





> . 7 * A 



<> ♦'TVi* ,0* 






T* A 



V <> " « , *^> 



<> *<r? 



J* v . 



' «fc. 






' • o.. *> 






*W 










o, *rr^° .0-' 



<*^ * 




i4°* 






"bl 






**"* 


















W 





















^6" 



.4°* 




i^ . t • < 







* AV ^ »l 



^^ n 







. .* a 







^°* 




V •^?p* y % Iff??'- #> ++ 



**J- 



<> \rXto 




ft*- ^ 















'." ** 



v^ 







'bf "^ "W v. «^<* 












n~ . « • < 



v % % *y^'+ ^ 












v * 



r / ^ 






* «, v \.J»tey^ ^V.itt./^ «*.:£&>+ 






W 












^c 



- «fev* A 



* V fi ° " < 



0o iPvV 




















^< 



& 



f. 



«5°^ .i 



.4 0, 



^..iSlf. 



"°^ *•••• A o 



l> « t • , 






!!• ^ & *jI 

r * aV ^ .! 



v* ••> 













*~& 



$°* -1 



«^ 







: ^V 









THE RESOURCES 
AND ATTRACTIONS 

of Idaho Territory 



Robert E. Strahorn 
Introduction by Judith Austin 



3d I 



THE RESOURCES 

AND ATTRACTIONS 

of Idaho Territory 




Idaho Yesterdays 

A Series Edited by Judith Austin 

Idaho State Historical Society 



THE RESOURCES 
AND ATTRACTIONS 

of Idaho Territory 



Robert E. Strahorn 
Introduction by Judith Austin 



University of Idaho Press 
Moscow, Idaho 







Originally published in 1881 in Boise City by direction of the 

Idaho Territorial Legislature, Special Act of the 11th Session. 

University of Idaho Press reprint edition 1990. 

Introduction by Judith Austin © 1990 by the University of Idaho. 

All rights reserved 

Idaho Yesterdays is a reprint series developed by the Idaho State 

Historical Society and published by the University of Idaho Press 

with the assistance of the Idaho Centennial Commission. 

Series design by Karla Fromm 

Printed in the United States of America 

94 93 92 91 90 5 4 3 2 1 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 

Strahorn, Robert E. (Robert Edmund), 1852-1944. 

The resources and attractions of Idaho territory / Robert E. 
Strahorn ; introduction by Judith Austin, 
p. cm. — (Idaho yesterdays) 
Reprint. Originally published: Boise City. Idaho Territorial 
Legislature, 1881. 
ISBN 0-89301-138-X: $6.95 

1. Idaho — Description and travel. I. Title. II. Series: Idaho 
yesterdays (Moscow, Idaho) 
F746.S89 1990 
979.6_dc20 

90-48371 
CIP 



Contents 

Idaho Yesterdays 
Introduction by Judith Austin vii 

Introductory 1 

Historical 3 

Natural Features 7 

Climate 11 

Mining 17 

Agriculture 64 

Fruit Culture 72 

Stockraising 73 

A Citizen's Letter 75 

Miscellaneous 78 

Idaho Laws 85 

Notices and Advertisements 89 



Idaho Yesterdays 
Introduction 

Judith Austin 

When T. W. Picotte trudged, all tattered and torn, from then 
distant Idaho into the Denver Tribune office (when I was cir- 
culation manager) with his flowery tales of that gem of the 
mountains, stressing its wonderful resources and dire need 
for railway facilities (the latter strongly evidenced by the 
wreck of his tramp attire), I vowed that if ever I got to be a 
railroad builder the Idaho field would have my first attention. 
Strangely enough, I was in a few years to promote, name, and 
help build across that domain, that best of all Union Pacific 
branches, the Oregon Short Line, and otherwise to figure 
largely in the development of that and many other Western 
states. 1 

So, seventy years later, did Robert E. Strahorn describe his 
introduction to Idaho's prospects. With no recorded witness, 
it is impossible to say whether he really made such a vow in 
response to Picotte's tales. But the description of his contribution 
to the area's development is no exaggeration. 

Strahorn was born in 1852, in central Pennsylvania, and spent 
most of his growing-up years in northern Illinois. His mother's 
ancestry was Dutch, his father's "Pennsylvania Scotch." The sen- 
ior Strahorn, a teacher and — when school was not in session — a 
lumberman, provided the youngster with a fund of stories and a 
lively cultural upbringing, though only a few years of formal 
schooling. In his teens Robert tried working for a farmer and 
rapidly took a dislike to the life. When the family moved to Se- 
dalia, Missouri, in 1866, the young man sought a job on the local 
newspaper. 2 



viii JUDITH AUSTIN 

The newspaper business suited Strahorn. He worked up from 
printer's devil and newsboy to typesetter and reporter at various 
Sedalia papers and then, having developed tuberculosis, went 
west to Colorado for his health in 1870. There, "as soon as I had 
gotten a few dollars ahead in the print shops, I sought for ways of 
getting into the open. Not content to follow outdoor activities 
wholly lacking in adventure, I decided to become a buckaroo, 
finding an opening on a ranch near Longmont, some fifty miles 
north of Denver." 3 The lifestyle pleased him no better than farm- 
ing had (though the enjoyment of outdoor adventure would last 
all his life), and he soon found himself back on newspaper staffs in 
Black Hawk and Central City. Eventually, after his stint as cir- 
culation manager of the Tribune, he formed a syndicate to pub- 
lish The Colorado Agricultural and Stock Journal. "The only 
reason for choosing that field was that all others were done to 
death with only one other agricultural and stock journal within a 
thousand miles. I was the only one who knew anything about 
farming, which was not much." 4 

More to the point, he did not greatly enjoy riding about the 
countryside seeking both news for the paper and subscriptions to 
support it. After a year, he gave up his share in the paper and 
signed on with the Denver Rocky Mountain News as a corre- 
spondent. The News capitalized on his sense of adventure by 
assigning him in 1876 to follow General George Crook's campaign 
against the Sioux Indians, during which he submitted dispatches 
to the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers as well. Reporters 
had to fight at times too; Strahorn saw combat at the Rosebud in 
June, and in March he so enthusiastically participated in the 
Battle of Powder River that he permanently damaged his vocal 
cords. 5 

Toward the end of 1876 Strahorn took a break from covering 
Crook's campaign to visit remaining family in Pennsylvania — and 
also the grave of his great-great-grandfather Strahorn, whose 
stories (told to a very young Robert when the old man was 100) of 
being with Washington at Valley Forge were very much a part of 
the younger man's own past. He returned to Crook's command 



JUDITH AUSTIN ix 

briefly and then moved to Wyoming in order to write The Hand- 
Book of Wyoming and Guide to the Black Hills and Big Horn 
Regions for Citizen, Emigrant and Tourists Nowhere is there an 
explanation of what led him to this subject, though Crook's cam- 
paigns had taken him through the country he chose to write 
about. 

The Handbook, issued in Cheyenne in 1877 without a recorded 
publisher, 7 was the beginning of Strahorn's remarkable career as 
a publicist, promoter, and documenter of the West. Its 249 pages 
(plus advertisements from Denver, Cheyenne, and Deadwood as 
well as Cincinnati and major railroads) contain history, descrip- 
tions of industries, geography and climate, social structure, and 
attractions for recreation and improvement of health. Relevant 
homesteading and mining laws, both territorial and federal; data 
on the cost of raising livestock; ore assays; mileage charts; weath- 
er statistics are all offered for the prospective resident's con- 
sideration. As a portrait of Wyoming and Dakota territories in 
1877, it is an extraordinary document. According to its author, it 
was even adopted as a textbook. 8 

Why did Strahorn decide to produce such a work? While he 
never says so explicitly, remarks in his autobiography suggest 
that he was looking toward the possibility of a position as railroad 
promoter or publicist. 

It was in newspaper assignments that I got my first inkling 
of and interest in railroad building, and I enjoyed them above 
all others. It so happens that the useful and ambitious pub- 
licity agent usually enjoys far more intimate relations with 
executives who really do large things than many more promi- 
nent. Not a few of the boys have by such association with 
master minds gained knowledge and inspiration which have in 
due time advanced them to positions in life far beyond the 
average. 

It was more the case in those days than now that the pro- 
moters of railroad projects also actually built the roads and 
engaged in many activities which would not come within the 



x JUDITH AUSTIN 

range of railroad construction today. Then a railroad builder, 
sometimes from choice, but more frequently from love of ac- 
tion and necessity, did many things to encourage settlement 
and development of his tributary country This often meant, as 
it later did in my case, the financing and construction of elec- 
tric interurban and street railways, irrigation works, hotels, 
highways and bridges to open up country and bring in traffic. 
Also building lumber mills, power plants, telegraph lines and 
waterworks, elevators and warehouses, churches, schools and 
colleges, help opening mining districts, and every other con- 
structive work that required more than ordinary capital in- 
vestment, which might not in itself pay as an investment. 9 

By the time he went to Wyoming, Strahorn had met and be- 
come engaged to Carrie Adell Green, daughter of a physician in 
Marengo, Illinois. In September of 1877, on the way to his wed- 
ding, he gave a copy of The Hand-Book of Wyoming to Thomas 
Kimball, chief passenger agent of the Union Pacific in Omaha. 
Kimball in turn showed the book to the president of the UP, Jay 
Gould. 

"It happened that Gould had in mind a great scheme of expan- 
sion of the Union Pacific. ... To justify such extension Gould 
wished to set in motion an avalanche of home seekers and a 
torrent of capital into the then unsettled and undeveloped 
country extending roughly five hundred miles north and the 
same distance south of his long, unprofitable single stem rail- 
road, with its then narrow fringe of pioneer traffic producers 
on either side." 10 

Strahorn's work in Wyoming, replicated for other territories 
within Gould's intended area of expansion, would clearly aid the 
magnate's designs. 

Within a week of the Strahorns' wedding, a job offer came. The 
original plan was that a "literary bureau" would be set up and its 
head would produce one large book with "leaflets, maps, folders, 



JUDITH AUSTIN xi 

and an eight-page monthly paper, some to be printed in various 
foreign languages, and later half a dozen other books on as many 
different Territories and States in greater detail." 11 In the end, a 
series of books and a short-lived newspaper were all that 
resulted — but those were a remarkable achievement in them- 
selves. 

Almost at once difficulties arose. It was absolutely against the 
railroad's policy to allow a woman to do the kind of traveling that 
would be necessary, and the Strahorns had no intention of being 
separated. The railroad finally gave in, and the newlyweds set 
out on their first trek. Whether besotted by love or overwhelmed 
by the experiences in prospect, they also neglected to determine 
how the UP would pay them; a hotel owner in Salt Lake City 
fortunately was sufficiently impressed by Robert Strahorn and 
his enterprise to stake them until funds were received. 12 Descrip- 
tions of this and later adventures were provided by "Dell" 
Strahorn in her own work, aptly titled Fifteen Thousand Miles 
by Stage and published in 1911. Hers would be a livelier writing 
style than his — at least in his published promotional work — and 
would provide an interesting counterpoint to his statistics and 
contemporary promotional purposes. 13 

Those fifteen thousand miles, and probably many more, took 
the Strahorns all over the country that was eventually crossed by 
the Union Pacific. In 1878, the year after their marriage, To the 
Rockies and Beyond; or A Summer on the Union Pacific Rail- 
road and Branches: Saunterings in the Popular Health, Plea- 
sure, and Hunting Resorts of Nebraska, Dakota, Wyoming, Col- 
orado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana was 
published, surely drawing on Strahorn's experiences before as 
well as after the wedding. 14 The next year, The Resources of 
Montana Territory and Attractions of Yellowstone National Park 
(the latter having been noted in the Wyoming volume as well) 
were presented to prospective settlers. 15 Not only was the pres- 
ent volume published in 1881, but so were descriptions of Gun- 
nison and San Juan (Colorado) as well as the revised editions 
noted above. The next year saw Where Rolls the Oregon; within 



xii JUDITH AUSTIN 

the next decade, similar studies of Utah, Washington, Colorado, 
and Oregon appeared. Many of these were published in more 
than one edition, and in most cases the Union Pacific Railroad 
Company is listed as the author. 16 

Strahorn's volume on Idaho is typical of the series, and it gen- 
erally follows the Wyoming model. Wages, prices, altitudes, as- 
sessed valuation by county, stage fares and distances are all tabu- 
lated. Laws of particular interest to prospective settlers — 
relating not only to mining, stock raising, water, and homestead- 
ing but also to public schools, exemptions from seizure of proper- 
ty for debt (Strahorn was more realistic than he is sometimes 
given credit for), and usury — are summarized in straightforward 
English. A testimonial letter from George L. Shoup, who would 
become the last territorial and first state governor of Idaho, is 
included — complete with his criticism of "indolent" prospectors; 
so are descriptions of individual orchards in the Boise Valley, 
with production from individual trees. Not surprisingly, much of 
the Idaho volume is devoted to mining operations in tho territory, 
with great detail about the size of lodes and veins, and the 
amount of production over time. If one wished to kn ow how much 
it might cost to move to a community, buy or homestead proper- 
ty, purchase equipment and supplies, travel to another town, and 
otherwise survive, Strahorn's volume answered the question. 
While much of the data is obviously drawn from official studies 
and reports, it is equally obvious that Strahorn has been to the 
places he describes. 

No wonder the 1881 Idaho territorial legislature, with the Mon- 
tana model before it, had authorized the territorial governor to 
enter into a contract with Strahorn to produce such a book and to 
pay the author $300, "if satisfied that the publication of the same 
will be beneficial to the interests of the Territory. ..." The 
legislature further provided that Strahorn would deliver 6,000 
copies to the governor, and that the Union Pacific would receive 
14,000 (which it would presumably use to entice settlers to take 
the railroad and get off in Idaho). It even required that at least 
six engravings of Idaho scenery be included in the publication. 17 



JUDITH AUSTIN xiii 

From the perspective of sixty years, Strahorn could look back 
with humor on his experiences and on the impact of his work. 
Early on, he asked Thomas Kimball for advice on "some standard 
of word painting." 

"Well, Robert," he replied, "bear in mind that everything you 
write will be discounted at least fifty per cent. At the same 
time don't forget that everything like this first book to be 
circulated by the Union Pacific must bear your name as au- 
thor." And a Montanan who had a copy of the first book but did 
not know that he was talking to its author said of it, when 
asked "Well, does the man seem to be fair and truthful in his 
stories?", "Now, friend, that's where you've got me. You can 
read that thing from beginning to end and you can't put your 
finger on a gol-darned lie, but I'm tellin' you, that feller has the 
damnedest way of tellin' the truth of any man who ever writ a 
book!" and an unhappy woman in a blizzard in Montana said "if 
this is Strahorn's paradise, all I've got to say is I wish he had to 
live in it!" 18 

Strahorn believed it himself. In 1883 he gave up his position as 
publicist for the Union Pacific. The year before, he had been 
involved in organizing the Idaho & Oregon Land Improvement 
Company, with Kansas senator Alexander Caldwell, Idaho ter- 
ritorial congressional delegate T. F. Singiser, and Andrew Mellon 
as officers. The company, closely linked to the UP and with 
Strahorn usually the most visible figure, laid out the town of 
Caldwell, Idaho, that same year. The land company was also 
instrumental in locating (on or within reach of the railroad) Hail- 
ey, Shoshone, Mountain Home, Weiser, and Payette in Idaho and 
Ontario in Oregon. These enterprises carried some danger: Cald- 
well's establishment signaled that the railroad would bypass the 
territorial capital, and for a time Strahorn was blacklisted in 
Boise. It did not help that the Strahorns were among Caldwell's 
leading citizens; it was their first real permanent home. 

By 1890, they were ready for new activity. They went first to 



xiv JUDITH AUSTIN 

Fairhaven, Washington, on Bellingham Bay, but Tacoma turned 
out to be the terminus of a northern transcontinental rail route 
instead. After a brief residence in Boston, they returned to 
Washington — this time, so Strahorn could develop railroad lines 
east of the Cascades. Their grand mansion in Spokane was even- 
tually sacrificed to bail him out of financial problems caused by 
trying to link central and southern Oregon with both the Union 
Pacific line down the Columbia Gorge and the Oregon and Califor- 
nia line from Portland south. 19 Even after Dell Strahorn's death 
in 1925, Strahorn continued active in land development — to his 
ultimate disadvantage, since the Depression wiped out his sub- 
stantial investments in San Francisco land. 
In his ninetieth year, Strahorn wrote: 

I saw Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, 
Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and many others of 
that vast domain emerge as Territories. ... I took an impor- 
tant part in the creation and development of nearly twenty 
states of that imperial region whose boundless natural wealth 
changed the whole trend of our national progress from north 
and south along the Atlantic to the far mightier movement 
from east to west. 20 

As to his motives: 

. . . there is just one practical common sense reason for all 
this. That is, the surpassing delight in human endeavor. The 
legitimate pride in achievement and the hope and belief in its 
reaping material reward fairly proportioned to the hazards 
assumed and the effort expended. 21 

Two years short of his death in 1944, Strahorn may have writ- 
ten with some exaggeration of his impact on the West's develop- 
ment. Still, if The Resources and Attractions of Idaho Territory 



JUDITH AUSTIN xv 

were as intriguing to readers of 1881 as they are nearly a century 
later, we can consider the author's pride well justified. 



Notes 

1 Robert E. Strahorn, "Ninety Years of Boyhood" (unpublished manuscript, 
1942; typescript at Terteling Library, The College of Idaho, Caldwell, Idaho; 
microfilm at the Idaho State Historical Society, Boise), 56. At the time, Picotte 
was a newspaperman in either Nevada or Colorado. In 1881 he made his own 
commitment to Idaho's prospects by founding the Wood River Journal in Hailey. 
See the Idaho Daily Statesman, October 2, 1927. 

2 Ibid., 13-36. 

3 Ibid.,59. 

4 Ibid.,64. 

Oliver Knight, "Robert E. Strahorn, Propagandist for the West," Pacific 
Northwest Quarterly (January, 1968), 67:35. 

6 The author is given as "Robert E. Strahorn ("Alter Ego") Of the Western 
Press." "Alter Ego" was the pen name he used in his newspaper articles. 

7 Strahorn said it was published by Knight & Leonard of Chicago. "Ninety 
Years," 240. 

8 Ibid. 

9 "Ninety Years," 71. 

10 Ibid.,242. 

n Ibid.,244. 

12 Ibid.,249. 

13 Carrie Adell Strahorn, Fifteen Thousand Miles by Stage (1911; reissued in 
two volumes, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988). 

14 (0maha: Omaha Republican Print, 1878.) Later editions, published in 1879 
and 1881, carried 216 pages to the first edition's 141. 

15 Subtitled Facts and Experiences on the Farming, Stock Raising, Mining, 
Lumbering, and Other Industries of Montana, and Notes on the Climate, Scene- 
ry, Game, Fish, and Mineral Springs, the first edition was published by the 11th 
Session of the Montana Territorial Legislature. A second edition was published by 
Ramsey, Millet & Hudson of Kansas City in 1881. 

16 For a full list of the last editions of each of these, see Knight, "Robert E. 
Strahorn," 36-37nn.ll, 12. 



xvi JUDITH AUSTIN 

17 General Laws of the Territory of Idaho . . . Passed at the Eleventh Session of 
the Territorial Legislature ([Boise]: A. Boyakin, Territorial Printer, 1881), 310, 311 
18 "Ninety Years," 266-67. 
19 Ibid.,327. 
20 Ibid.,9. 
21 Ibid., 11. 




Introductory. 

IDAHO is practically known only in name. The query more often arises 
" Where is it?" than "What is it ? " bnt either interrogatory is suffi- 
ciently frequent, at this date, to justify these preliminary statements, which 
are substantiated further on : 

Occupying all the vast sheltered basin between the main range of the 
Rocky Mountains and the "Blue Hills of Oregon," being much less elevated 
than its eastern and southern neighbors, and within easy reach of the warm 
currents of the Pacific, its arable belts are the largest and most productive of 
any in the inter-mountain country. 

Its area is greater than that of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire, combined. 

Its climate is proved the healthiest in America, if not in the world. 

It contains some of the largest mineral fields in the world, and they have 
produced, and are now producing, the richest ores known in the history of 
mining. 

It contains a diversity of other resources not surpassed by any region of 
similar extent in our Union. 

It is being traversed from east to west by two of the greatest railway lines 
of our continent, and possesses water communication with the Pacific 
Ocean. These avenues insure the producer every facility for transportation, 
and the settler of the immediate future a very rapid increase in the value of 
his possessions, whatever they may be. 

Although a comparatively new country, with a vast extent of public 
domain unoccupied, and presenting opportunities no more to be enjoyed in 
the east or "middle West" for acquiring homes and wealth, it possesses 
many of the religious, educational and social advantages of those localities. 

In collecting, sifting and tabulating the statistics which go to prove these 
statements the writer has endeavored to use only that which has been deemed 
thoroughly reliable. Acknowledgment is made for such material to Hon. 
Jas. L. Onderdonk, Cal. C. Clawson, Esq., Prof. Gilbert Butler, A. F. Parker, 
Esq., Hon. Geo. L. Shoup, and the entire editorial profession of the territory. 



Historical. 



THAT portion of the United States embraced within the boundaries of 
the present Territory of Idaho was first traversed by white' men in 
1804, when the party of explorers under Lewis and Clarke passed through 
this region. It was then a part of the great territory known as Louisiana, 
which had just previous]} 7 been purchased from France by the United States 
government. Many years before this time the existence of one or more large 
rivers west of the great water-shed of the Rocky Mountains was considered 
very probable by geographers, including Thomas Jefferson, afterwards Pres- 
ident of the United States. Search for this suppositious river was vigorously 
prosecuted by various explorers and others. In 1793 Captain Gray who had 
been sent out to buy furs in the interest of Boston merchants, made the dis- 
covery of the mightiest river of the Pacific slope, and named it the Columbia, 
after the vessel of which he was master. Not long afterward Captain Gray, 
in company with Captain Vancouver, an Englishman, sailed some distance up 
the Columbia, but they made no overland explorations of the country, and 
consequently did not penetrate as far as the limits of what is now Idaho. 
Vancouver formally claimed the country for his sovereign, King George III., 
"by right of discovery and explorations," while at the same time Gray laid 
claim to it for the United States. 

Under the provisions of the treaty of 1818, the country north of the forty- 
second parallel of latitute and west of the Rocky Mountains was occupied 
jointly by Great Britain and the United States. To this whole region was 
given the name of Oregon (from an Indian word signifying wild marjoram.) 
But little being known of this territory, and its ownership being in dispute, 
emigration was not attracted to any considerable extent up to the signing of 
the Northwest Boundary treaty, in 1846. The international line, by the terms 
of the treaty, was made the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude ; so that 
the Territory of Oregon embraced all the vast region west of the Rocky 
Mountains and between the forty-second and forty-ninth parallels of latitude. 
Congress in 1847 offered rich bounties in land to those who would take up 
their residence in Oregon, and in 1849, when the California gold discoveries 
were made, it had a population of several thousand. In 1853, Washington 
Territory was created. 

Idaho was created a Territory by act of Congress of March 3, 1863, from 
portions of Washington, Dakota and Nebraska Territories, comprising an 
area of 326,373 square miles, and embracing the present State of Ne- 
braska and nearly all of Wyoming. The name Idaho is a corruption of the 
Indian word E-dah-hoe, which has been translated " Gem on the Mountains. " 
In 1868, the Territories of Montana and Wyoming having been called into 
existence, Idaho embraced its present area. It extends from latitude 42° 
to 49°, has the British Possessions on the north, Montana and Wyoming on 



4 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

the east, Utah and Nevada on the south, and Oregon and Washington on the 
west. The length of the Territory is 410 miles, and its width from 257 miles 
in the extreme south to sixty miles at its northern limit. 

The notable history of Idaho, like that of every State and Territory of 
the Kocky Mountain region, is essentially the history of the finding of pre- 
cious minerals within its borders, and it owes its first permanent settlement 
to these discoveries. In 1852, gold was reported to have been discovered by 
a French Canadian, on the Pend d'Oreille river. In the following year Gov- 
ernor Stevens conducted through this region the survey for the Northern 
Pacific railroad. In 1854, General Lander found gold while exploring the 
route for a military road from the Columbia to Fort Bridger, in Wyoming. 
However, it was left to Captain Mullan, who some years later built a road 
from Fort Benton to Fort Walla Walla, a distance of 624 miles, to give to the 
world the announcement of the existence of gold in paying quantities on the 
Salmon and Clearwater rivers. 

In July, 1860, Captain E. D. Pierce, who had organized a party of pros- 
pectors, discovered good paying placers on Oro Fino creek, which flows into 
the Clearwater river. About the same time Colonel Craig and a party also 
struck rich diggings at the head of Meadow creek, a small tributary of the 
Salmon river. In a basin near the top of a mountain were found deposits of 
from two to thirty feet deep, overlaying a stratum of gravel, which contained 
gold in large quantities. In August, 1862, a party of prospectors from 
Oregon, of which George Grimes was the leader, made a discovery of very 
rich placer grounds on a branch of Moore's creek, a tributary of the Boise 
river. Nuggets weighing from $5 to $50 were daily found, while one nugget 
weighed forty ounces, and was valued at $600. This district was soon not 
confined to Grimes creek, as the stream had been called, but embraced the 
valleys of all the water courses within an area of thirty square miles. 

In 1863 the riches of the Owyhee district were unearthed by a party of 
prospectors under one Jordan. The placer discoveries were followed up in 
the fall of the same year by the finding of very rich and extensive quartz 
mines on War Eagle mountain, a few miles to the southeast. Picked ore 
from one ledge assayed $22,000 in gold to the ton, with $3,000 in silver. 
From the Poorman ledge, discovered in 1865 by Charles S. Peck, was taken 
out a body of ore weighing 500 pounds, which was one solid mass of crystals 
of ruby silver of a uniform stratum. Over 250 mines were discovered and 
recorded between 1863 and 1865. The towns of Boonville, Ruby, and Silver 
City rapidly sprang into existence. 

Not only had the Owyhee district shown itself marvelously rich in quartz 
ledges, but at Flint, nine miles south of Silver City, at Atlanta, Yuba, Rocky 
Bar and Volcano, all on the headwaters of the Boise river, had districts been 
formed for the development of the rich quartz ledges found in them. The 
" Basin," in the Grimes Creek district, had held its own in placers, and as a 
result the towns of Centreville, Bannack (now Idaho City), Boston, Placer- 
ville, Granite and Moorstown, had been built in a remarkably short time. 

In 1864 discoveries of gold quartz were made along Rock creek in what is 
now known as the Wood River district. The very rich, heavy lead ores, 
which have during the past year made that region famous throughout the 



ID*A11<J TERRITORY. 5 

mining world, were not found until in 1873, when, strangely enough, they 
were only valued as material for bullets. Their practical development was 
delayed until in 1880, mainly on account of the depredations and menaces of 
savages who up to that time infested the country. 

The various quartz districts clustered about the headwaters of Salmon 




Red Rock and Swan Lake, Idaho. 
Along the Utah & Northern Branch Union Pacific Railway. 

river, now proving the most extensive belts of high grade gold and silver de- 
posits in the world, were overlooked until in 1870-71 when the Loon Creek 
gulch discoveries created an extensive stampede to that section. Here the 
placers were soon exhausted, or passed by as not worth working, and the 
wonderful quartz veins of Yankee Fork were left untouched up to 1876, 
partly because few of the pioneers cared, in those clays, to engage in quartz 
mining, and partly because the small bands of miners were constantly har- 
rassed by renegade red men. The discoveries of fabulously rich gold and 
silver quartz along Yankee Fork of Salmon river in 1876 was followed by the 
finding of silver ores in Bay Horse, Kinnikinik, and other subdivisions of the 
Salmon River region in 1877-78 and in the Sawtooth country in 1879. 



6 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

It will be seen that quartz mining is receiving the greatest share of atten- 
tion, although some of the placer districts are still yielding abundantly. The 
hand-mortar and the rude arastra of the early days have given place to im- 
proved machinery for the reduction of ores, and capitalists are finding op- 
portunities for investments which bring large and quick returns. From 
actual figures and careful estimates it is ascertained that Idaho, in spite of 
her issolation and her other numerous discouragements, has produced in pre- 
cious metals since the discoveries of gold in 1860, the enormous sum of 
$90,000,000. Many mineral belts have only been partially prospected; many 
promising prospects remain undeveloped for lack of capital, and many dis- 
tricts are yet remote from markets for their products. With the large in- 
crease in population which the territory will without doubt receive next year, 
with the development resulting from the employment of much additional cap- 
ital, and with the opening up of the country by lines of railroad already being 
constructed, Idaho will take rank with the very first of the bullion-producing 
sections of the world. 

These various discoveries in this region, many hundred miles from any 
centre of population or trade, have necessarily attracted producers of "differ- 
ent classes. Agricultural development in Idaho has gone hand in hand with 
mining. The prosy industries of farming, stock-raising and fruit-growing, 
were inaugurated in various valleys in western Idaho upon the instant that 
rich " strikes " were announced in the pine-clad hills overlooking. Thus it is 
that rural pursuits have been thoroughly tried and the newcomer with a pen- 
chant for any of them will discover further on that the experiment, long since 
complete, has resulted in a success that is, to say the least, very seductive. 

Dating back to the days when railroads were yet 1,500 miles away, the 
early gold discoveries failed to attract very general attention to Idaho. 
Hundreds of miles from civilization, in unknown mountains infested by fierce 
Indians, the earliest prospectors were heroes of the noblest sort. Even after 
demonstrating the richness of the region they labored under great disadvan- 
tages. Labor and living commanded enormous prices. Freights from San 
Francisco were half a year in transit and sometimes cost sixty-five cents per 
pound. It required more nerve than the average eastern capitalist possessed 
to undergo the twenty days and nights, and often more, of steady staging 
through a country never free from the attentive " road agent" or blood- 
thirsty savage, to hunt lucrative investments " away out in Idaho." In 
those days mechanics were paid $10 per day, money loaned at three to five 
per cent per month, and it cost from seven to ten cents on every dollar for 
sending bars of gold or silver to California and getting returns in coin or 
currency. Even upon the completion of the Pacific railway in 1869, the 
most productive mines and best valleys were 250 to 300 miles away — too far 
for quartz mining or the farming industry to receive any marked relief. 
Under these circumstances it can hardly be wondered that the richest mines, 
the most fertile valleys, and the finest grazing lands of our continent have no 
place in our industrial documents and are yet labeled " Unexplored Country " 
in that wedge-shaped blank at the top of our maps. In fact it is a marvel 
that the little handful of Idaho pioneers produced nearly $90,000,000 in gold 
and silver prior to the advent of the Utah & Northern branch of the Union 



IDAHO TERRITORY. ( 

Pacific railway in 1879, and by their many personal sacrifices so thoroughly 
paved the way for a peaceful and profitable career upon the part of thousands 
who have since that date joined them. During the past year railway construc- 
tion and the promise of it have been potent factors in sending 10,000 people 
to Idaho, Next year will witness a still larger influx. 



Natural Features. 



MOUNTAINS— Stretching along its eastern edge and separating Idaho 
from Montana and Wyoming are the rugged mountains of the Bitter 
Root, Rocky and Wasatch ranges, the Bitter Root occupying the northern, 
the Rocky the central, and the Wasatch the southern links in this boundary. 
The " spurs" of these ranges, especially of the Wasatch, extend well over 
into Idaho and they contain some of the Territory's best mineral belts. Their 
highest peaks reach altitudes ranging from 9,000 to 13,000 f eet.^ On the [south 
and southwest are the Owyhee mountains which form an. important link in 
the great divide between the waters of the Columbia and those of the 
Humboldt. On the west are the Blue mountains of Oregon and Washington. 
Idaho is therefore practically mountain-locked, although from the south, 
southeast and west there are numereus depressions through which railway 
and wagon roads find easy natural access. The interior of the Territory is a 
vast plateau, varying in altitude from 600 feet above the sea in its lowest 
valleys to 10,000 on the tops of its highest peaks. The average elevation is 
from 2,000 to 3,000 feet less than that of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada or Col- 
orado. It is traversed by numerous mountain ranges running in a variety of 
directions, the trend of the principal ones, however, being southeast to north- 
west. In these interior ranges are the mineral belts which first attracted 
general attention to the Territory. Of Idaho's 55,228,160 acres 18,400,000 
are classed as mountainous. 

Bivers, Valleys and Lakes.— Of swift, noble rivers and deep, placid lakes, 
Idaho has its scores. Snake river meanders through the eastern, southern 
and western parts of the Territory for over 1,000 miles, is navigable for 20C 
miles within its borders and, next to Niagara, boasts the most imposing cat- 
aract on the continent. Clarke's Fork, of the Columbia, Coeur d'Alene and 
St. Joseph rivers, are each navigable and larger than the Ohio at Pittsburgh. 
The Salmon, Boise, Clearwater, Kootenai, Payette, andWeiser are larger and 
compare favorably in picture squeness with the Susquehannah, or other sim- 
ilar streams which are recognized as the noblest and most beautiful posses- 
sions of the Alleghanies or Blue Ridge. All of these and hundred© of minor 
water courses are swift and clear currents, full of trout and other species of 
freshwater fish. They furnish power illimitible in extent and easily utilized, 
and a never-failing supply of water for irrigation and domestic uses. 

Idaho possesses about 600,000 acres of lake area. Lake Pend d'Oreille 
is 120 miles long and from five to ten miles wide, being navigable for ships 



8 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

of any draft throughout and unrivalled for the magnificence of its Alpine 
setting or the beauty of its many pine-clothed isles* Lake Coeur d'Alene, 
thirty-six miles long and three to five miles wide ; Kanisku Lake, ten miles 
wide and twenty long, and numerous smaller sheets, all abounding in various 
species of fish, possess charms not inferior to those which have enraptured 
artist and poet at Killarney, Loch Katrine or Geneva. 

Alternating with and nestling among the mountain ranges are many val- 
leys, large and small, affording in the aggregate a vast area of agricultural 
lands not exceeded in fertility by any in the world. The most extensive are 
Boise, Snake, Payette, Clearwater, Lemhi, Weiser, Blackfoot, Malacl, Pa- 
louse, Potlach and Bear. The arable portions of these valleys lie from 600 to 
5,000 feet above the sea, and they range in size from one to twenty miles in 
width, and from twenty to 100 miles in length. In the northern portion of 
the Territory excellent crops of cereals are raised without artificial irriga- 
tion. In the central and southern parts irrigation is essential to sure and 
good crops, although there are occasional small tracts lying near the level of 
the streams on which grain crops may do well without. The area of valley 
and other arable lands (all such as may be reclaimed by irrigation) is esti- 
mated at from 13,000,000 to 16,000,000 acres. 

Traversing southern Idaho is the extensive volcanic belt or basin of 
Snake river. This basin stretches far into neighboring commonwealths, be- 
ing 1,000 miles in length. In Idaho it averages about 50 miles in width, this 
area being an almost unbroken bed of lava. With the exception of a few 
valleys which traverse it the region is only fit for grazing. Upon its nutri- 
tious grasses and sage are fattened many thousand cattle annually. 

Soil. — Four kinds of soil are to be found in Idaho, to wit : alkali soil, 
mountain soil, plain and plateau soil, and valley soil. The first is of limited 
extent, producing grease wood which cattle eat readily, particularly the young 
shoots. The soil of the mountainous regions, especially in the wooded sec- 
tions, is black, deep and full of vegetable mold; therefore is exceedingly rich. 
The soil of the plain or plateau is covered with sage brush, and contains all 
the elements for the successful growth of all the cereals, containing a great 
amount of vegetable mold. The valley soil, says Prof. Gilbert Butler, an old 
resident, " cannot be excelled in any other State or Territory of the Union. 
It contains, indeed, the aggregated and condensed richness of vast areas of 
vegetable growth that have been accumulating for ages on the sides of the 
mountains skirting the valleys. An analysis of this soil shows it to be pre- 
eminently rich in all the mineral and vegetable elements necessary to the 
growth of all the cereals, vegetables, fruits &c, &c, usually grown within 
the latitude of the Territory. It is of good depth, is invariably found to 
superpose a gravelly soil and is so inclined that perfect drainage can readily 
and effectively be had. Thermal springs are so abundant that it is no un- 
common thing for the farmer to be supplied with warm and cold water direct 
from the mountain side. The mountains being high and not very precipitous, 
the valleys are generally well protected from the cold winds, and in the hol- 
lows or gulches wood grows plentifully and yields a supply of fuel and fen- 
cing for the home and farm necessities, and an abundant and grateful shade 
for stock." 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 9 

Forests. — The forest area is 9,000,000 acres, much of it it being included 
in the mountain region above described. Throughout the central, northern 
and eastern parts of Idaho the woodlands possess a heavier growth than in 
a majority of the timbered States east of the Rocky mountains, while in the 
remainining sections the timber sunnly is not inferior to jthat of the most^of 
our prairie States. There are various varieties of fir, the white, red and 
black spruce, scrub oak, yellow and white pine, mountain mahogany, juniper, 
tamarack, birch, cottonwood, alder and willow. Along the Clearwater, in 
north Idaho, and in several[^other sections, white pine logs 100 feet long and 
five feet in diameter, and red and white cedar trees two to five feet in di- 
ameter are common. 

•From careful estimates received from eighteen different parts of the Ter- 
ritory, from data furnished by Messrs. Williams and Paul, census statisticians, 
and from Dr. Brewster,'s "Forests of America," it is safe to give the approx- 
imate area of these woodlands as follows : 10,000 square miles contain over 
500 acres of timber to the square mile; 12,000 square miles, from 360 to 560 
acres; 5,000 square miles, from 240 to 360 acres; 15,000 square miles, from 
120 to 240 acres; 13,500 square miles, from ten to 120 acres. 

Native Grasses. — There are 25,000,000 acres of grazing lands in the Terri- 
tory, a large proportion of which will afford splendid feed the year round. 
Bunch grass grows luxuriantly and is wonderfully nutritious. It cures into 
excellent hay where it stands and remains so until fresh grass covers the 
ranges. Timothy in some places grows naturally. Rye-grass is a natural 
growth of the valleys, as well as of damp uplands. The eastern slough-grass 
flourishes naturally in the meadows; also the fine " blue stem," "red top," 
etc. The white sage and other native herbs make excellent feed for cattle 
in winter. 

The Minerals are gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, coal, plumbago, quick- 
silver and others of minor value. There are also mountains of sulphur, pro- 
ductive salt springs, quarries of the finest marble and building stone, large 
deposits of merchantable mica, and various varieties of semi-precious stones. 
Idaho's precious metal belt is 350 miles in length, and from ten to 150 miles 
in width. 



Climate. 



WITH persons who are thinking of emigrating to any particular region, 
the question of climate is always one of prime consideration. If a 
man lives in a malarial section, or one subject to the ravages of fever or con- 
sumption, it is a duty which he owes to himself and family to remove, pro- 
vided he possesses the means, to a place where these baneful conditions do 
not exist. Many portions of the Eastern States are cursed with just such 
disease-producing climatic conditions ; yet if Idaho were spoken of as a place 
where freedom from ague-breeding malaria or consumption-producing damp- 
ness might be enjoyed, its geographical situation would in the majority of 
instances suggest an almost polar frigidity. This erroneous idea is very com- 
mon, and is quite natural where the causes of difference in temperature in 
the same latitudes on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States are 
not known or are not taken into proper consideration. It is well known that 
a wide difference in temperature exists in corresponding latitudes on the 
Atlantic coasts of the United States and of Europe, and the cause has been 
well established. While along the eastern shores of our own country courses 
the Arctic ocean current, bearing down from the Northern sea its icy waters, 
the western countries of Europe are warmed by the mighty Gulf stream, 
which bears to their shores the thermal waters of the Tropical ocean. 

Idaho is in the same latitude as sunny France, Switzerland and portions 
of Italy, Spain and Portugal. Now, if it can be shown that Idaho is subject 
to oceanic influences very similar to those of the countries mentioned, it will 
not be so surprising if it has a somewhat similar climate. And this is not a 
very difficult task. Idaho is at no great distance from the Pacific ocean— 
quite near enough to be very markedly affected by its currents. By reference 
to any map whereon these ocean currents are set down, it will be seen that 
the great Japan current (Kuro Sivo) — that mighty stream of warm water — 
bears directly against the western shores of America. The temperature of 
the winds blowing over it is of course affected by its heat, and they carry 
their modifying influences inland to Idaho. Meeting the obstruction of the 
great natural wall of the Bitter Root and Rocky Mountains, these " Chinook " 
winds are deflected along their western bases and pass southward beyond the 
limits of the territory. It is not claimed for Idaho that its climate is as warm 
as that of the same latitude in Europe, but that it is not is due, not to its 
geographical location, but to its topography and surroundings. Over 400 miles 
in length from north to south, the territory is crossed by numerous mountain 
ranges or spurs, many of whose peaks tower up beyond the line of perpetual 
congelation. 

In a moderate and conservative article on Idaho in Appleton's Encyclope- 
dia, the following is found: " In spring, summer and autumn, the climate is 
delightful; the days are never sultry and the nights are cool. The winters 
on the high mountains are accompanied with extreme cold and heavy snow. 



12 



IDAHO TERRITOKY. 



On the plains and lower mountains they are generally less severe than in 
northern Iowa, Wisconsin or central Minnesota. The valleys are mild, visited 
with little snow, and cattle winter in them without shelter. The average 
temperature in the western part of the territory is about the same as in cen- 
tral Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and southern Pennsylvania, while in the east it is 
more nearly that of northern Massachusetts and southern Vermont and New 
Hampshire. About the sources of the rivers in the Bitter Root ana Rocky 
Mountains the fall of rain and snow is considerable, but in the lower valleys 
in the west it is much less, and agriculture is not generally successful without 
irrigation. In the extreme north the climate, though less dry, is colder and 
not well adapted to agriculture ; but the temperature does not vary in pro- 
portion to the difference in latitude." 

The average annual temperature of the territory is many degrees higher 
than in the same latitudes east of the Rocky Mountains. The snow-line on 
the eastern slope is several thousand feet lower than in Idaho. As high as 
10,000 feet spots are found covered with luxuriant grass and alpine flowers, 
and surrounded by dense forests of fir, spruce and pine. The sky is usually 
free from clouds, and sunshiny days are the rule. Hurricanes and torna- 
does that frequently cause such devastation in other portions of the Union 
are unknown to Idaho. 

Fort Lapwai, in the extreme northwestern part of Idaho, in 46° 32', and 
at an altitude of 2,000 feet, has an annual temperature of 48°, about the same 
average as Nebraska, 400 miles further south, and several degrees warmer 
than Wisconsin and Michigan. The average annual rainfall is 11.10 inches. 
The prevailing winds at Fort Lapwai are from the east in the morning, and 
variable afterwards. The average temperature of spring is 55°; of summer, 
90°; of autumn, 40°; and of winter, 20°. At Lewiston, in northern Idaho, 
on about the same latitude as Fort Lapwai, observations have been made 
by the signal service bureau only for one year, commencing with July, 1880. 
While the facts developed in that office are not of great value, because cov- 
ering such a brief period, they are added to the general fund of information : 



MONTH. 



Maximum 

Tem- 
perature. 



July 1880 

August " 

September " 

October " 

November " 

December " 

January 1881 

February " 

March " 

April .. " 

May « 

June " 



00° 

94 

92 

84 

62 

54 

49 

63 

77 

77 

88 

93 



Minimum 

Tem- 
perature. 



48° 

46 

38 

29 

13 

6 

5 
18 
28 
35 
35 
47 



Mean 
Temper- 
ature. 



74° 

70 

65 

56.5 

37.5 

30 

27 

40.5 

52.5 

56 

61.5 

70 



Rain and 

Snow Fall. 

Inches. 



1.86 
1.09 

.20 
1.54 
2.33 
6.31 
4.46 
4.33 

.49 
2.60 

.23 
2.30 



It will be seen that the mean temperature for the year was 56.08°, a better 
(milder) showing by five degrees than was made by Ohio during the same 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



13 



year. The mercury did not fall below zero during the year. The total fall of 
rain and melted snow was 17.50 inches. Sergeant Blake, who has charge of 
the office, says the first heavy frost occurred November 4th, and the latest, a 
light one, occurred April 30th. The winds were very light, and thunder storms 
rare ; nights were cool throughout the summer, and Mr. Blake says his reports 
made a very favorable showing for the Idaho climate when compared with the 
best returns from 150 signal stations of the United States. 

The temperature of Boise City, the capital, in latitude 33° 37' north, and 
longitude 116° 12' west, 2,880 feet above sea level, is mild, the lowest during 
the last seven winters being 12° below zero, in January, and the highest 108° 
in July. BarnetE. Light, signal officer, reports that mercury sank below 
zero only four times during the last five years. That the prevailing winds are 
south-southwest, averaging twelve miles an hour, and never exceeding thirty 
miles, and that the rainfall has been as follows : 1874, 15.05 inches; 1875, 
13.83; 1876, 11.12; 1877, 3.62; 1878, 10.21; 1879, 1763; and in 1880, 10.66 
inches. Following is Mr. Light's report of the mean temperature of each 
month since January 1st, 1874, observations having been made daily at 7 a. 
m., 2 p. m. and 9 p.m.: 



month. 



January 28.14° 

February 31.49 

March 40.32 

April 50.12 

May 63.53 

June 68.25 

July 81.99 

August 74.30 

September 65.56 

October 59.72 

November. . 45.07 

December 35.47 

Mean each year 53.66 



1874. 



1875. 



18.49° 

24.59 

38.17 

55.47 

61.02 

70.45 

78,61 

77.63 

67.61 

57.06 

41.10 

41.01 



52.60 



1876. 



32.49° 

39.89 

42.43 

50.55 

56.23 

72.43 

74.29 

76.63 

63.58 

56.07 

24.91 

32.48 



51.83 



1877. 



33.56° 
39.00 



74.94 

73.89 
60.99 
48.99 
41.12 
30.90 



50.67 



1878. 



34.34° 
39.74 

48.04 
51.17 
58.80 
72.26 
75.98 
77.31 
60.49 
47.95 
41.69 
29.90 



53.13 



1879. 



26.1° 

39.7 

47.2 

54.8 

56.4 

65.4 

75.5 

75.4 

67.5 

49.8 

37.5 

31.6 



52.2 



1880. 



38.3° 

32.8 

38.0 

49.7 

55.0 

66.5 

75.0 

71.9 

61.3 

51.3 

32.9 

35.4 



1881. 



31.6° 

39.1 

45.4 

54.8 
60.6 
67.5 
71.2 



50.6 52.8 



It will be seen that for the past eight years the average annual tempera- 
ture has at the most varied only two degrees from 51°. It is doubted if a 
more equable temperature could be found, either under the genial skies of 
the far-famed Mediterranean or at our own all but perfect sanitaria, Los 
Angeles and Santa Barbara. 

While Boise is a fair representative, in the matter of climate, of the various 
agricultural sections, it should be borne in mind that the much more eleva- 
ted mining districts have winters as harsh in most ways as any of the Alle- 
gheny or Blue Ridge country can ever show. Our best authorities on clima- 
tology, however, agree that in the dry rarified atmosphere of Idaho and moun- 
tainous regions adjoining on the east, there is a difference of about twenty de- 
grees in the intensity of heat or cold in favor of those regions when compared 
with the same temperature in the raw or humid atmosphere of the Atlantic 
coast region. In other words, that a temperature of 105 degrees in Idaho is 
only equal in its effects upon the system to one of eighty-five degrees at 



14 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



Boston or New York; or the extreme cold temperature for Boise City, of 12° 
below zero, is as easily endured as that of 8° above at any point in the eastern 
States. Sunstrokes or hydrophobia are never heard of in Idaho, and although 
open air work is carried on every day in winter and an important proportion 
of the population live among the mines and on the stock ranges in the rudest 
kind of shelter the year round, I have never heard of a case of severe freez- 
ing as a result of such exposure. 

The influence of climate upon agriculture, stock-raising, or mere personal 
comfort is sufficiently important, but its effect upon health is paramount to 
every other consideration. According to the official report of the Surgeon- 
General of the United States army, the percentage of deaths from disease to 
each 1,000 soldiers in the different military districts of the Union are as fol- 
lows, the result having been the average of four years : 

Deaths each year 
Localities. from Disease. 

Atlantic coast, out of each 1 ,000 men 17.83 

Arizona, " " " " 12.11 

Pennsylvania and Michigan, " " 6.05 

New Mexico, out of each " " 7.77 

California, " " " " 6.88 

Montana, " " " " '. 5.62 

Dakota, " " " " 4.76 

Wyoming, " " « « ■ 4.71 

Idaho, " " " " 4.66 



The Gulf States make a worse showing than the Atlantic States, and Idaho 
shows the smallest ratio of mortality of any locality in the Union. It will be 
noted that the troops of the United States army are subjected to exactly the 
same condition and surroundings and have the same habits everywhere more 
nearly than any other class of people. Their food, clothing, medical attend- 
ance and places of abode are nearer identically the same wherever they go; 
consequently comparing the ratio of mortality among them in these different 
regions enables us to obtain a more correct estimate of the actual healthful- 
ness of each region than could possibly be obtained in any other way. 

But the most striking illustration of the general healthfulness of Idaho is 
afforded by the mortality-statistics taken in connection with the national cen- 
sus of 1870 — (those of 1880 are not yet available). According to them the 
death-rate in Idaho icas less than in any other State or Territory, as will be 
seen from the following table, giving the exact figures of the census. The 
percentage of deaths to population was, in — 



Idaho 0.33 

Alabama 1 .08 

Arizona 2.61 

Arkansas 1.26 

California 1.61 

Colorado 0.94 

Connecticut 1 .26 

Dakota 0.71 

Delaware 1.25 

Louisiana 2.00 



Maine 1.23 

Maryland 1 .24 

Massachusetts 1.77 

Michigan 0.94 

Minnesota 0.80 

Mississippi 1.11 

Missouri 1 .63 

Montana 0.90 

Nebraska 0.81 

Nevada 1 .45 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



15 



New Hampshire 1.35 

New Jersey 1.17 

New Mexico 1.28 

New York 1.58 

District of Columbia 1 .53 

Florida 1.21 

Georgia 1.15 

Illinois 1 .33 

Indiana 1 .03 

Iowa 0.81 

Kansas 1.25 

Kentucky 1 .09 

North Carolina 0.98 

Ohio l.ii 



Oregon 0.69 

Pennsylvania l .49 

Khode Island l .26 

South Carolina 1.05 

Tennessee 1.13 

Texas 1.37 

Utah 1.03 

Vermont 1 .07 

Virginia 1.24 

Washington 0.93 

West Virginia 0.91 

Wisconsin 0.94 

Wyoming 0.81 




Lake Pend d'Oreille, Idaho. 

The mortality of California— the praises of whose climate are caroled in 
all civilized tongues— is nearly five times greater than that of Idaho ; Colo- 
rado, a summer-land which is most deservedly the resort of tens of thousands 
of health-seekers annually, exhibits a mortality nearly three times as great as 
that of Idaho, while Florida, "where 'tis spring-time all the year," and 
where our best physicians of all Eastern States unite in directing a multitude 
of patients, makes a showing about three times less favorable than that of 
Idaho. 

With the possibility of living at any desired elevation above sea level; 
with a rarified, dry, pure atmosphere ; with almost constantly bright, genial 



16 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

sunshine ; with a light, dry soil, and with abundance of pure water fresh from 
mountain streams or medicinal waters from numerous springs — is it any 
wonder that Idaho is the healthiest region in America ? Children born here 
are strong and sturdy, and the diseases incident to childhood never assume a 
malignant form. Endemic and epidemic diseases are almost unknown. 
There are no low, swampy lands here, malaria cannot exist, and fever and 
ague have no foothold. Consumption, that "dread disease which medicine 
never cured, riches never warded off, nor poverty could boast exemption 
from," which is the scourge and terror of New England and all moist cli- 
mates, is either here cured or modified so as to prolong life for many years. 
The dryness, purity and antiseptic properties of the air have a tendency to 
counteract and reduce the excessive mucus collections, while its rarifaction 
makes necessary more frequent and deeper respirations, thus causing a whole- 
some expansion of the lungs. The bright, warm days are conducive to a cheer- 
ful and hopeful feeling, which is a great aid in overcoming the disease, while 
the cool nights are productive of sound, invigorating sleep. These influences 
are no less effective in rheumatism, asthma, bronchitis, liver complaint, dys- 
pepsia and many other diseases. In the various mineral springs, both hot 
and cold, with which the Territory abounds, the patient, afflicted with scrof- 
ulous or glandular disease, finds veritable pools of Bethesda. 

Idaho's unparalled climate and wonderful medicinal waters have already 
made the Territory the resort of thousands of summer visitors in search of 
health and recreation, and the permanent home of thousands of others who 
have fled from unhealthful sections of the east. When the remarkable 
cures which have been affected by these combined agencies are better known 
and understood, when Idaho becomes less of a terra incognita to the teeming 
populations of the east, then it will be felt that no extravagant claim is being 
made for the Territory when it is called the " Great Sanitarium of the Pacific 
Slope." 



Mining 

MUCH can be said in favor of emigration from crowded localities to new 
and exclusively agricultural domain. Much more can be said in 
favor of a move to that domain which furnishes our solid currency in addi- 
tion to a lavish production of bread and beef. Idaho's mountains, ribbed with 
oyal metals, alternating with her sequestered gulches, rich in golden nuggets, 
cover an area as large as that of a first-class eastern state. Idaho is the 
home of the famous Elm ore, which, with a small 20-stamp mill, in thirty days, 
has poured out $500,000 — the largest month's yield, I believe, of one mine 
with a mill of this limited capacity yet recorded in the world. Among her 
tens of thousands of quartz veins already found Idaho possesses the Morning 
Star, whose shipment of 100 tons containing $100,000 is fresh in the minds 
of many ; a near neighbor of the Morning Star in trying to duplicate this out- 
put fell only $10,000 short, and added another brilliant achievement to those 
in mining history by yielding $4,000,000— $1,000,000 for each 100 feet of its 
400 feet of depth — in a comparatively brief period. Idaho, too, contains the 
noted Atlanta ledge, which, traced for miles on the surface, is fifty to 100 
feet wide and has shipped a thousand tons (a mere fraction of its product) 
1,500 miles to Omaha, where $700,000 were extracted from it. Our Gem of 
the Mountains also contains the Custer ledge, the giant among American 
mines, from whose unparalleled out-crop four men have during eight months 
quarried ore which has yielded $650,000. Among other mineral productions 
briefly noted in pages following is a small area of the placer ground of one 
county which has produced $20,000,000 in gold — more than a million a year 
for eighteen years — and other larger areas which in years to come will often 
duplicate the total past placer jdeld of $65,000,000. In iron, coal, copper, 
lead and other useful mineral possessions Idaho can also astonish some of 
her neighbors. Past development is not presented in this work to carry the 
impression that vast things have invariably been accomplished. But these 
facts and the additional fact that a mere handful of pioneers have 
here contributed $90,000,000 in gold and silver to the world's tangible 
wealth; that they have done it in a region for a number of years, 1,500 miles, 
and more recently 300 miles, distant from railways, and a region up to eighteen 
months ago infested by hostile savages and mercilessly bled by mining stock- 
jobbers — these facts, I say, argue that nature has been prodigal indeed, and 
they are potent in guaranteeing that Idaho, penetrated by railways, fostered 
by capital and peopled by the thousands she has room for, will be the peer 
of any mining region in the universe. 

Among the mineral districts first organized were those in western Idaho, 
on tributaries of Boise river, and embracing what are now known as the 
2 



18 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



PLACER MINES OF BOISE COUNTY AND BASIN. 

The " Basin " as it is familiarly termed, is about fifteen miles long and of 
an average wide of one mile. It is really composed of three contiguous 
basins with intervening, dividing summits ; the southern basin being that in 
which Idaho City is situated; the middle, that of Boston, Centreville and 
Pioneer; the northern, that of Placerville, Granite creek, and Quartzburg. 
Geologically considered, the formations are nearly the same — that of lime- 
stone and porphyritic rocks. 

As in all cases of placer mining, much of the ground from which the white 
man has already taken the " big pay dirt," is now in the hands of Chinamen, 
who re-work, at a profit, the old ground. Still there is yet a vast amount of 
virgin auriferous ground in the hands of wealthy white men who are washing 
out from its golden sands the glittering dust and nuggets. 

The most extensive workings at the present writing are those of the Hon. 
Ben. Willson, between Big Muddy creek, near Pioneer, and Boston, on Grimes' 
creek — a distance of over six miles. This " placer king," as he is familiarly 
known in this section, owns an immense amount of rich ground, and fifty 
miles of ditches which have cost considerably over $150,000. The principal 
ditches owned and operated by Mr. Willson are the Willson Ditch, tapping 
Clear creek, and about three and a half miles long; this ditch has over 1,000 
feet of heavy fluming and has a capacity of 1,200 miner's inches of water; 
the Willson Big Ditch taps Grimes creek, and receives the Willson ditch as a 
tributary; it carries, in different portions, 5,000, 2,500 and 1,400 inches of 
water, is twenty-nine miles long and cost over $100,000; the Willson Moun- 
tain Ditch is about twenty miles long and carries 800 inches of water. Be- 
sides these, Mr. Willson commands other ditches of less capacity. 

Since the time when the Grimes' party (in 1864) and Messrs. Willson, 
Geo. Washington Anderson, Joe. Branstetter, W. B. Noble, W. W. Hooten, 
Marian Moore, Col. Fogus and other pioneers, washed and rocked out their 
first pans of dirt, no less than the magnificent sum of $20,000,000 has been 
taken out of the ground worked by the water from these ditches. Mr. Will- 
son had at one time over 200 men at work, and some idea may be had of the 
necessary profits when it is said that the prevailing wages were for a long 
time from $6 to $7 per day to the man, then for three or four years more, 
from $5 to $6 a day, and now even the average pay is $4. The ground has 
been worked continuously for eighteen years, and it is " good " for another 
eighteen. 

At present the main work is concentrated on the Big Muddy Derrick 
Claim, together with the Big Muddy Bed-rock Flume. The latter is about 
one and a half miles long and carries from 700 to 800 inches of water. 
It is an immensely rich claim, has been worked continuously for fourteen 
years, and still there is a vast area of rich virgin ground to be worked. This 
claim is now made tributary to the Big Muddy Derrick claim which has been 
worked for eighteen years. The Derrick claims are worked both by water 
and steam power, and while the writer was on the grounds, were worked by 
an improved Cranston elevator (Mr. Willson's improvement) which was doing 
splendid work. 

At present there are seventy-five men at work on these claims, and 



20 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

although the palmy days of placer-mining in the " Basin" may be said to be 
over j yet there remains a vast extent of ground, rich in gold, that has not 
been touched, and when one sees such thorough application of the most im- 
proved modern machinery known to placer-mining brought to bear in the 
prosecution of the placer-mining industry as can be seen here at any time, it 
is not hard to conceive that the " Basin " will yet ship many a heavy sack of 
the golden dust, and still holds its own as a " placer " country. 

Next to the extensive placers of Mr. Willson, come the Willow creek 
claims of Channel and Travis. These claims are eleven in number, all about 
four miles northwest of Idaho City, and tributary to Grimes' creek, which is 
itself a tributary of Boise river. They aggregate 14,380 feet, or nearly three 
miles of claims which average 200 feet in width, with a depth of about twelve 
feet, one foot of which is exceedingly rich pay gravel. In East Fork claim 
no less than eighteen ounces of gold, valued at $315, has been rocked out in 
one day by one man. Mr. Travis himself took out single-handed no less 
than $122 in two-thirds of a working clay. It was no very uncommon thing 
to take from $10 to $13 from a single panful of dirt. These claims have been 
worked continuously for seventeen years, and the total amount taken from 
them, narrow as they are, does not fall short of $750,000. 

The company is now working twenty-four men, and uses 1,600 feet of 
heavy piping. Water is taken from the Channel ditch which is twenty-four 
miles long, and which was constructed at a cost of over $50,000. 

In the immediate vicinity of Idaho City there are, on the east side, the 
placers of Moore's creek, especially those of Hoodoo Gulch and the drift- 
placers of Gold Hill, while on the west are the bench placers extending for 
over one mile in length. Years ago the placers of Gold Hill (Idaho City) 
paid enormous profits, and to-day there are over 100 men working in tunnels 
through it, following the gold deposits on the pseudo-morphous bed-rock, but 
as it is mainly in the hands of Chinamen it is impossible to secure any statis- 
tics as to the annual yield of the hill claims, still competent men who have 
worked the claims in Gold Hill, on the Bear Run side, estimate that certainly 
not less than $350,000 have been taken out of the drift claims, while millions 
must have been taken out of all the placers immediately adjacent to the city. 

At the time of the discovery of the placers on Elk creek (Idaho City) in 
1863, the bed of the creek — also that of Moore's creek — was thirty feet below 
the level of the town. Now, owing to the amount of tailings deposited in the 
creek from the numerous placers around, the bed has gradually risen until 
it is level with the town, indeed a little higher on] the west side, for a 
levee has been built to prevent the water encroaching on the town limits. 
Now, when it is recollected that these tailings were mainly deposited there in 
the palmy days of placer-mining in this camp, and at a time when no gold- 
saving machines were used but the primitive rocker and rough sluices, and 
that claims that would not pay from $7 to $10 a day to the man were either 
abandoned or sluiced off to get to better pay ground, and again, when we con- 
sider how many tons of quick-silver were carried off and which now lie de- 
posited with the larger gold in these tailings, it can be no wonder to see nor 
does it seem extravagant to assert, that there are now millions of dollars of 
gold dust and quick-silver lying in the bed of Moore and Elk creeks, and it is 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



21 



almost an assured fact that the day is not far distant when these and the ad- 
jacent tributary creeks will be flumed on a gigantic scale. Then old Idaho 
City— which deserves the name of Phcenixiana, having been burned down three 
times and as many times risen from its ashes— will resume its old pioneer 
look, and thousands of hardy, whole-souled miners will throng its streets. 

QUARTZ-MINES OF BOISE COUNTY. 

Although quartz-mining in this county is yet in its infancy, it bears prom- 
ise of rapidly developing into being the main source of wealth. From Shaw's 
mountain, in the south to Gold Hill (Quartzburg) and Banner in the north, 
there is one continuous (* eposit of mineral-bearing rocks which make them- 
selves conspicuous either in the form of the placer deposits of the " basin," 
or in the form of quartz ledges, hard, firm and compact in Shaw's mountain, 
or decomposed at Gold Hill immediately flanking the placer grounds, and again 
hard at Banner. Both Shaw's Mountain and Gold Hill are in the western 
part of the metaliferous belt of Idaho, and bear the same characteristics so 
peculiar to the western portion, viz., that of carrying gold rock, while at 
Banner— in the eastern half of the belt— the character of the rock is argen- 
tiferous. There can be no doubt that Boise county will eventually become 
one of the richest mining counties in the Territory in quartz-mining, since 
it lies wholly within the eastern and western limits of the mineral belt of the 
Territory. 

Banner.— This district is about thirty miles northeast of Idaho City, the 
county seat of Boise county, and it may be really be called " a new camp," 
although a little prospecting has been done there for over ten years. It was 




Challis, Idaho 



22 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

in 1878 that the camp begaiij to develop into an important silver-mining re- 
gion, and too much praise cannot be given to the Elmira company (J. L« 
Brown, Esq., Supt.), for their persistent efforts and energy in thoroughly 
testing the merits of the ledges. They have been rewarded for their labors 
and their heavy expenditures of money, and to-day their property is very 
valuable, and daily increasing in value. The company has put up a hand- 
some mill of twenty stamps, with an engine of 100-horse power, four amal- 
gamating pans, three settlers, a rock-breaker and two reverberatory roasting 
furnaces, and the mill is now not only in good order, but running to its full 
capacity. 

The ore is chloride (very rarely black sulphurets), antimonial, ruby and 
native silver. The ledges are very orthodox in their strike, i. e., northeast 
and southwest, and the silver belt, as far as developed, is about ten miles 
long with a width of from one-half to three-quarters of a mile. About sixty 
claims have been located, and although assays of specimens from these 
claims run as high as $6,000 to the ton, the average milling rock yields from 
$50 to $100 per ton. The ore is found in pockets, bunches, or chimneys; a 
peculiarity of all our silver mines, and the gangue indicates permanency. 

The Elmira company owns the following mines : the Crown Point, Wol- 
verine, Banner, Idaho, Star of the West, and the Washoe. The Crown Point 
and Wolverine (adjoining mines) have been sunk to a depth of 300 feet, at 
which depth they are tapped by a tunnel 520 feet long, and splendid new 
hoisting works have recently been built over the main shaft. A tram rail- 
way now connects the main tunnel with the mill. The ledge at this depth 
(300 feet) is six feet wide and carries ore averaging $86 per ton. From out 
of these two mines the company has taken nearly $300,000, and the future 
looks very bright. The BaDner has a shaft 100 feet deep, with two tunnels 
tapping the ledge in other places. The vein averages two and one-half feet 
wide, and the ore mills from $30 to $80 a ton. About 300 tons of ore have 
been taken from this mine. The Idaho has a fifty-foot shaft and a tunnel 
tapping it, with a ledge of two feet carrying $20 to $80 ore. This is a 
chloride, and easily milled. Star of the West has a twenty foot shaft, a 
ledge two and one-half feet wide, and ore averaging $25 a ton. Tr e Washoe 
at a depth of thirty feet shows a well-defined ledge two feet wide, and which 
carries ore worth $35 a ton. 

Through the courtesy of Mr. F. Lord, assayer for the company, I am able 
to append the following notes of assays of the company's mines. 

Wolverhie^ } ore runs to 6,00 ° oimces > averaging 70 ozs. 

Banner ore runs to 400 ounces, averaging ... .40 " 

Idaho ore runs to 400 ounces, averaging 50 " 

Star of the West ore runs to 200 ounces, averaging 70 " 

Washoe ore runs to 200 ounces, averaging 50 " 

The Panamint (Lester, Miller & Irwin, owners) is a two foot ledge, and 
mills $50 to the ton. The ledge is worked by a shaft seventy feet deep, and 
by a tunnel tapping it at this depth. Another tunnel has been lately run, 
tapping the ledge fifty feet deeper; and the ledge* is improving as depth 
is attained. The ore of this mine assays to 500 and 600 ounces, and, even 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 23 

with the small work done, it is already considered to be a really fine property. 

The Silver Chief (Monroe & Hawley, owners) is on the same ledge as the 
Banner, but is not yet sufficiently developed to ascertain its real value. 
Assays run to 400 ounces, but its probable average value is between thirty 
and tforty ounces. The Golden Gate, also oir the Banner vein, has a shaft 
thirty-eight feet deep with a three-loot ledge, and cairies $80-ore. and 
already promises to be as good a mine as any in the camp. The Imperial 
and Bullion are good prospects, showing a fine body of ore assaying as high 
as 250 ounces, and averaging about 136 ounces. 

As already remarked, Banner is really a new camp, and positive develop- 
ments are few, but such as have been made indicate that there is a glorious 
prospect in the future. The bullion shipments of the Banner district for 
1881 will not fall below $75,000. 

Tke Quartz') urg Mines.— The Quartzbur<r district, seventeen miles north 
of Idiho City, has been a large and steady gold-producer ever since 18G7; the 
bulk ol its product coming from-the Gold Hill mine, owned by the Gold Hill 
Gold and Silver Mining Company. This, company owns 3,900 feet along the 
great Gold Hill lode, The vein carries two to three feet of easily-worked, 
decomposed sulphureted quartz, yielding from $10 to $100 per ten. Thous- 
ands of tons have been w T orked in the company's twenty-five stamp mill, giv- 
ing an average^ yield of over $30 per ton, while large runs have been made 
yielding from $50 to $100 per ton. The main shaft is down about 500 feet; 
from this six levels have been extended Talong the vein at intervals of about 
seventy-five feet. These various underground openings aggregate a length 
of over two miles, and have almost universally followed paying quartz. The 
material now being raised from the deep workings pays almost dcuble what 
that did from the surface. Seventy men are employed. 

There is a vast extent of productive ground exposeci m the Gold Hill 
mine above the 600-foot level, and the company's product is as steady as the 
returns of interest on our government oonas. Indeed, this success has 
been almost phenomenal. The mill now at work has run twelve years with 
only a brief stoppage for repairs. It has produced $2,650, C00, and contrib- 
utes about $150,000 to (Idaho's product [for 1881 It reduces the Gold 
Hill quartz at an expense of less than $1.25 per ton. When, occasionally, its 
proprietors desire to do custom work (crush quartz for other mines) it earns 
$56 per day for each battery of five stamps; and yet it is that same old 
Cobclen mill which in 1865, in the hands of New York capitalists, made a flat 
failure and did much to bring Idaho into bad reoute as a mining country. 
Its present owners, who are thorough miners and mill men, bought it in 1869, 
and it has paid for itself and for the mine and all other improvements a dozen 
times over. About 5,000 tons of refractory ore, worth $30 per ton, lies on 
the dump ; this grand reserve will be held and added to until the incoming 
railroads are near enough to render the transportation of roasters, salt, etc., 
and the working of that grade of ore practicable. The Gold Hill enterprise 
is a splendid \ monument to the skill and nerve of the practical miners in 
charge, and, as an illustration of what the right men can do with the right 
machinery in Idaho, is the pride of every citizen. 

The Mammoth, on Summit Flat, near Quartzburg, and various mines on 



24 IDAFIO TERRITORY. 

Shaw's mountain, near Idaho City, are making a fine showing, considering 
the amount of work expended upon them. Messrs. Wilson & Whitney are 
developing the Mammoth. There have been 1,000 feet of main tunnels run, 
with additional cross cuts and adits of over 700 feet. The ledge varies from 
two and one-half to twelve feet in width, and carries ore worth from $40 to 
$100 per ton. At present there are twenty-five men at work, and everything 
promises that the future of the mine will be bright. The mill, an eight-stamp, 
about u mile from the mine, is kept running day and night to its fullest ca- 
pacity. 

The Ebenezer (Messrs. Gorman, Hawley, Fisher & Co., owners) is about 
three miles southwest from Quartzburg, between the forks of Bear Gulch, a 
tributary of Cation creek. It was located in 1876 by John Merrill and Jack 
Fisher, and has been worked at intervals by a small force of men, and 1,300 
tons of ore have been taken out and shipped to the Gold Hill mill at Quartz- 
burg, yielding $112,000. There is now a large amount of second-class ore 
on the dump, and openings made in various places on the ledge show pay ore 
in every instance. It is now worked at a depth of of 100 feet. The ore gen- 
erally contains free gold ; although a large body of lead and iron containing 
both gold and silver, running from $60 to $250 per ton, has lately been de- 
veloped on the western portion of the claim. The Ebenezer is on the same 
range as the Gold Hill mine, and is undoubtedly an extension of it. 

The Mountain Chief (Danskin Bros. & Co., owners) adjoins the Eben- 
ezer on the northeast, and was discovered about the same time. This mine 
has not been worked continuously, but very rich bodies of ore have been 
developed realizing to the owners over $40,000. The mass of vein matter is 
a heavy, sulphureted ore which cannot be worked by common mill process. 
The placers below this mine have been exceedingly rich in rough quartz-gold; 
evidently but little washed since leaving the ledge. Nine tons of ore from 
this mine were crushed at the Gold Hill mill in July 1881, and yielded 
$2,232, or at the rate of $248 per ton. 

The Belshazzar, owned by Hardin, Gillallen, Shanks & Co., adjoins the 
Mountain Chief on the northeast, and runs on the same ledge. It is opened 
by a tunnel 400 feet long, and a shaft connects with it at a depth of 100 feet. 
An immense body of ore, assaying from $10 to $30 per ton, has been devel- 
oped. Lack of means has prevented the owners from erecting a mill, al- 
though the developments would fully justify it. The Centennial is to the 
south of the Belshazzar and seemingly on a spur of that ledge. The ledge, 
although narrow, is rich and the ore averages $250 per ton. 

The Mayflower is on the southwest and adjoins the Gold Hill mine. The 
property is undeveloped, although a large amount of low grade ore has been 
exposed. The Eisler, northwest of the Gold Hill, has every promise of 
being a good mine. Fifty thousand dollars have been taken out, but 
continuous litigation has retarded the development of the mine, and matters 
at present remain in statu quo. The Iowa is on a spur of the Gold Hill and be- 
low the Eisler. It was discovered in 1874 by James Hawley, and a very rich 
though small vein opened. As high as $100 to the pan was taken out of the 
decomposed ore. The present owners have lately begun active developments 
of the led "re. 



26 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

Many of the Boise county quartz mines encounter a heavy flow of water 
at a depth of from 100 to 200 feet. This compels the investment of consid- 
erable capital in pumping and hoisting machinery, or else leads to the aban- 
donment of the mine. As the region is developed almost exclusively by compar- 
atively poor men, a large number of very promising mines — mines which 
yielded a handsome revenue until water filled them up^are lying idle. The 
investment of from $20,000 to $50,000 in improved pumping machinery, and 
other necessary auxiliaries to successful deep mining, would render dozens of 
claims very profitable. It follows that in the very near future, when rail- 
roads penetrate Boise Valley, capital will seek such legitimate schemes and 
the mines of Idaho City, Quartzburg and Banner, will yield their tens of 
thousands where they now yield their thousands. 

Following is an estimate, made from data carefully collected from the 
best sources, of the precious metal yield of Boise county lor 1881 : 

Banner, quartz mines $ 75,000 

Quai tzburg, quartz mines 150,000 

Summit Flat, quartz mines 60,000 

Placers of Boise Basin 830,000 



Total yield of Boise county $1,115,000 

NOBTH IDAHO MINES. 

The mining districts of North Idaho are scattered over a large extent of 
territory; they comprise the Warren's and Florence Basins, the river bars in 
the Salmon river range, the quartz mines near Salmon City and Gibbonville, 
the Oro Fino, Elk City and Moose Creek districts in that portion of the Bit- 
ter Root mountains drained by the Clearwater and its tributaries, and the 
Kootenai county mines in the extreme northern part of the Territory. 

The Oro Fino Placer District was the first district found in North Idaho ; 
its discoverer was a Capt. Pierre, who gave his name to the trading point of 
the camp. No authoritative information relative to the total gold produc- 
tion of the camp can now be obtained. The principal diggings are on Oro 
Fino creek and Cow creek, and give employment to twenty- five wmite men 
and 200 Chinese. One company, employing about twenty-five Cninamen, i& 
taking out about $20,000 per annum. Nearly all the work is on old ground 
or tailings which have been sluiced over and over again for years. One com- 
pany has for half a dozen years or more found it profitable to work a claim 
which the well known Levant Pease left in 1863 with $100,000 from its sands in 
his pos session and from which he said he had " taken the cream." Messrs. I. 
B. Cowan and H. L. Gray own good hill claims from which they obtain hand- 
some incomes annually. The Gollinge claim, covered by twenty-three miles 
of ditch, contains Jiundreds of acres of good ground and will be productive 
for many years. 

S. W. Moody and others own several quartz claims four miles east of 
Pierce City, one of which, the Last Chance, is developed by a tunnel seventy- 
five feet long showing a cluster of small veins of native gold ores trending 
toward each other and apparently soon to unite. There are many croppings 
of quartz ledges in the region surrounding Pierce City, and as the country is 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 27 

yery rough and heavily timbered it will be a seductive field for the prospector 
and miner for ages to come. 

In Shoshone county, twenty miles northeast of Pierce City, the Shoshone 
Mining company is developing the Tiger, Cougar and Dark Wall lodes. The 
Tiger is developed to a depth of 150 feet by a tunnel 175 feet long. It has 
a pay vein forty inches wide from which a 500-pound lot of ore recently 
yielded $75 per ton gold. The Cougar shows several hundred tons of galena 
croppings containing considerable silver. The company owning these claims- 
are erecting two large Huntington oscilating crushers with a capacity of 
twenty tons daily, and hope to make a handsome showing before the close of 
1881. 

The Florence Placers. — The famous Florence basin placers, among the rich- 
est diggings ever found east of the Sierras, were discovered in 1861 . The camp 
is on the summit of a ridge situated in a big bend of Salmon river and wa& 
in its earliest days the scene of intense excitement. The southern slope of 
this ridge is drained by Meadow creek and on the north by Miller's creek, 
both these water courses putting into Salmon river at a long distance apart. 
Owing to the altitude and topography of the camp, water for mining pur- 
poses is difficult to obtain, and there'is a large area of virgin ground nil- 
worked, more than half the camp in fact. In the summer of 18C2 ten thous- 
and men visited the district and remained till the discovery of Warren's dig- 
gings the following year. Many rich strikes were made, and some claims are 
still very productive. There are atj>re sent fifty whites and 150 Chinese in 
Florence. A rich quartz lode was struck in the early days, but for some rea- 
son it has failed to develop as well as it at first promised. 

Warren* s District. — Warren's is the largest and most isolated of the placer 
camps in the northern country; it is located fifty miles south of Florence, 
The ground is extensive enough to afford profitable employment to 100 
white men and 400 Chinese. One-tenth of the available ground in the camp 
has not been worked owing to-a lack of "dump." The lower portion of the 
camp known as the Meadows comprises nearly 2,CC0 acres of virgin ground 
that prospects very rich; the Chinese control all the opened mines here and 
work them by the tedious method of stripping by hand and make $ 2.00 per 
day over and above expenses. The quartz in Warren's is the richest and most 
promising yet found in North Idaho. The Summit, at the head of Warren's 
and Steamboat creeks, is literally seamed with parallel quartz veins, many 
of whi:h are being profitably worked by individual exertion. 

The latest discovery of paying placers was made on Little Slate creek, 
that receives the waters from the Florence basin, in the fall of 1880. This 
camp is seven miles west of Florence, and with its tributaries, embraces a 
very large area of ground, to all of which water is available. It is safe to say 
that at least 200 men will find remunerative employment in this camp next 
summer. The gold is high grade, running to $16 and $18 to the ounce; the 
soil is light and shallow, hence a large surface of the bed rock is easily 
stripped. Little Slate creek was superficially prospected in the early days of 
the Florence excitement, but the ground was not thought rich enough to pay, 
yet the writer found nine cents to the pan on the bedrock in the Joe Baker 
claim just opened. 



28 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

There are several other localities close to the old camps where paying 
ground is known to exist by the resident old timers, but as they are inter- 
ested in other camps, they are unable to spare the time necessary for their 
development. Several parties of white men are making a competence every 
season in the Buffalo Hump region and elsewhere. Salmon River bars for 
hundreds of miles in the almost inaccessible wilderness of Central and 
Northern Idaho are rich m tine gold, and a lew claims have been worked 
profitably for years at points not requiring the outlay of capital. 

Kootenai County Mines. — In Kootenai county, fifty miles east of Couer 
d'Alene and near the old Mullan wagon road, Messrs. Dobson & Irwin have 
recently discovered a vein of free gold ore four feet thick assaying from $60 to 
$700 per ton. They call it the Irwin. The main shaft is fifty feet deep and 
mere are several otner openings on the vein, all in fine looking ore. Some 
other promising quartz claims have been discovered in this vicinity. Placer 
mines have also recently been found. This seems to be an extension of the 
mineral belt of Southern and Central Idaho. The Couer d' Alene range, in 
which these mines are located, is one of the roughest in America, and but 
little is known of the treasures which it now seems probable exist in its 
hundreds of square miles of deep recesses. Fifty miles north of the district 
just outlined, in the mountains flanking Penci d'Qreille River, croppings of 
heavy lead ores rich in silver, have been found, but owing to their compara- 
tive inaccessibility nothing has been ]done in the way of development. Still 
further north from fifty to one hundred miles and stretching across the 
British line is a gold quartz and placer belt. The placers have been worked 
in a small way for a number of years and considerable gold has been shipped 
from them, but nothing has been done with the quartz. That whole moun- 
tain region stretching northward from Pierce City to] the Arctic Ocean may 
still well be called "unexplored country." 

North Fork District. — At Gibbonville, North Idaho, along the North Fork 
of Salmon River, forty miles northwest of Salmon City, and ninety miles west 
of Butte, Montana, is an important cluster of gold mines which have been 
yielding well for several years. They are true fissure veins from two to ten 
feet wide, carrying easily reduced sulphide ores which yield from $20 to $200 
per ton. Among some forty claims which have paid from the surface down, 
are the Huron, Ouida, Rose, Keystone, Sucker, Eureka, Golden Circle, 
Bill Edwards and McCarthy. The first seven have recently been pur- 
chased, with a ten stamp mill, and consolidated into one property 
by Messrs. Johnson, Walker & Co., of London, the price being $250,- 
000. The Sucker has yielded ore in 100 ton lots averaging over $100 
to the ton, and the McCarthy has yielded several hundred tons, pro- 
ducing an average of $30 gold per ton, while the total expense of hauling 
and milling was only $12 per ton. The ten stamp mill referred to above has 
crushed 2,000 tons of ore in the last eighteen months, its gold shipments 
during that time aggregating $40,000. There are six arastras in the district 
which have been running pretty steadily for two years. The ore worked in 
these has averaged $40 per ton. The Gibbonville District is a very promis- 
ing one. A large mill to be erected by the London Company, the construction 
of roads promised in the immediate future, and recent discoveries of new 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 29 

mines as well as of rich ore bodies in the older ones, combine to assure a 
rapid and healthy development from this on. 

Salmon City District. — Within a radius of fifteen miles of Salmon City, 
and really belonging to the North-Idaho country, are many gold veins, which 
if in Colorado or other less distant regions, would receive great attention 
from the mining world at least. The Freeman mine, near Salmon City, 
owned by Col. Geo. L. Shoup, Ex. Senator Wallace, of Pennsylvania; Gov. 
Pound, of Wisconsin, and Mr. Singisser, secretary of Idaho, Is one of these. 
It is a two-foot vein, every pound of whose product "prospects" well in 
gold and averages $30 per ton under stamps. It is developed by a tunnel of 
over 300 feet, in the running of which several hundred tons of good ore have 
been extracted. Near by is the Silver Star, a prodigious outcrop, assaying 
from $20 to $50 in gold. It is estimated that over 50,000 tons of ore are in 
sight in the Silver Star, the vein being twelve to fifteen feet wide, and in 
places rising from twenty-five to fifty feet above the surrounding formation. 
The Washoe, near by, is a fine-looking, free gold vein three and one-half 
feet wide. 

About fifteen miles northwest of Salmon City, in the Moose Creek section, 
is the Shoo Fly mine, whose discovery dates back to 1873. It is a gigantic 
vein, twelve feet wide, from which ore worked in 100-ton lots has averaged 
$39. -40 per ton. An imperfect five-stamp mill has been running semi-occa- 
sionally on ore taken from the entire vein of twelve feet without assorting, 
thus grinding out from $12 to $60 per ton, or a total product of some $30,000. 

Yellow Jacket District. — This district lies sixty miles west of Salmon 
City. The first mines discovered were placers found on the bars of the 
Yellow Jacket in 1869. Nathan Smith was the discoverer. The creek takes 
its name from a nest of yellow jackets which were only too well sampled by 
an unfortunate prospector. Yellow Jacket is a tributary of big Creek or 
North Camas, which empties into the Middle Salmon. 

The North and South American claims are the more prominent of the 
mines. These ledges run parallel, showing croppings forty to fifty feet 
wide and traced for two miles. The developments consist of a tunnel on the 
South American 200 feet, and five shafts, each from twenty to thirty feet 
deep. The ore throughout is free gold and assays from $12 to $75 per ton. 
A three-stamp mill, packed in on mules, has been used to prospect the ores. 
It has worked 120 tons, vielding from $15 to $20 per ton. The quartz is, 
apparently, inexhaustible. 

In an extension of the North American a large body of ore is in sight, as- 
saying from $15 to $25 in gold per ton. Another location near by is called 
the Hoosier, the quartz averaging $76 per ton. The formation is porphyry; 
the hills are low and timbered with yellow pine; grass and water abundant; 
the winters not too severe for stock. Capitalists are considering the matter 
of building a wagon road to these mines and erecting a large stamp mill. 
With the initiative once taken we may reasonably expect soon to see hundreds 
of stamps crushing quartz on the North and South American veins. 

Prairie Basin Camp is in Yellow Jacket district, and about ten miles from 
the above mines. Some good placers have been worked for several years. 
There is a quartz belt in the basin which carries both gold and silver, with 



30 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

gold predominating. The Watchtower, Monument, True Blue and Bobtail 
are the principal mines. The Watchtower is a ten-foot vein, carrying gold 
and silver and is traced by croppings 1,200 feet. The vein occurs in quartzite. 
On the opposite side of the creek, only 300 feet away, its extension, the Mon- 
ument, strangely enough, is encased in porphyry and in it silver predominates. 
The Monument is aptly named, for it rises thirty feet above the ground and 
shows twelve feet of mineral, which assays all the way from $10 to $500 per 
ton. From the True Blue, an extension of the Monument, a shipment of two 
tons of ore has returned $248 per ton. 

To the north of Yellow Jacket, about twenty miles, is a large galena belt, 
the ledges in which contain sixty-five to seventy-five per cent lead and $40 to 
$90 per ton silver, but being in an isolated region, the mines have not been 
prospected to any great extent. 

The fact may be definitely stated that no other country offers more prom- 
ising inducements to the intelligent prospector than North Idaho. There are 
stronger probabilities for the discovery of immense mineral deposits here 
than elsewhere, for the surface of its mighty mountain ranges have thus far 
not been more than hastily scratched over. 

With the completion of the Oregon Branch of the Union Pacific Railway, 
the Northern Pacific railroad and the Boise and Lapwai wagon road, the 
whole of the magnificent region lying south of the British possessions, rich in 
all the raw material of wealth, will be opened up to settlement and occupa- 
tion. The area of mining ground on Salmon River alone, awaiting the com- 
pletion of these most important lines, is sufficient to employ 10,000 men for a 
century to come, and with the cheaper transportation which such routes 
would secure, these now sequestered and neglected regions would become 
busy hives of human inlustry. 

THE OWYHEE COUNTBY. 

The most productive quartz mines yet discovered in Idaho are those of 
the Owyhee region, in the southwestern portion of the Territory, found in July, 
18G3. What are popularly known as the Owyhee mines include those on Florida 
and War Eagle mountains, on opposite sides of Silver City; those of Wagon- 
town, seven miles northwest of Silver; those of Flint, nine miles to the 
southeast, and those of South Mountain, thirty miles south of Silver City. 
The mineral characteristics of these are : Gold and silver in Florida and 
War Eagle mountains; argentiferous galena in South Mountain; tin and 
refractory milling ores in Flint; silver and milling ores in Wagontown. 
Geologically considered, says a mining engineer: "War Eagle mountain is 
granite; Florida mountain, porphyritic; Flint and Wagontown, granite and 
porphyritic; while at South Mountain the features are limestone, porphyry 
and granite, with some metamorphosed slates.' ' 

As a rule the veins of both War Eagle and Florida Mountains are small 
but exceeding rich, containing fine gold, native silver, simple sulphurets and 
chloride of silver, sometimes stephanite, a little iron and copper pyrites, 
some binoxide of manganese and ruby silver. The course of the veins, which 
by depths varying from 300 to 1,300 feet have been proved to be true fissures, 
is mainly north and south, the gold belt — Oro Fino, Elmore, Golden and 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 31 

South Chariot, Minnesota and Mahogany— runs almost clue north, while the 
silver belt — the Bell Peck, Poorman, Empire, Illinois Central, &c. — has a 
•course northwest and southeast. 

The Oro Eino, owned by T. Regan, Esq , of Silver City, was easily found 
'by immense croppings projecting from ten to tw r elve feet above the surround- 



Henry Lake, Idaho. 

ing formation. In 1865 and 1866 $1,500,000 worth of ore was taken from a 
block of ground lying between the surface and the first level — 150 feet clown. 
That and subsequent developments proved the mine to be a true fissure, 
carrying from four to thirteen feet of high grade quartz. Thirteen feet of 
vein matter at the bottom will average $70 per ton. The deepest shaft is 
307 feet, and the different levels aggregate about 2,500 feet — almost every 
foot of w T hich passed through paying quartz. The Oro Eino produced 
$2,756,128 in six years without the aid of steam hoisting w T orks or any con- 
siderable expenditure of capital. In 1872, just as a fine plant, consisting of 
steam hoisting works, air compressor, and other machinery costing alto- 
gether $125,000, were completed and the mine placed in good trim to yield, the 
effects of a very large stock-jobbing enterprise became immediately apparent, 
in the peremptory order to cease work. Since that date the outside capital- 
ists manipulating the affair have come to grief in other ways, and the mine 
has finally passed into the hands of Mr. Regan, who is preparing to w^ork it 
for what it is worth. With machinery to work it to a depth of 1,400 feet and 
the proof positive that its ore bodies are larger in the lower levels than 
above we may expect to hear good things of the Oro Eino before long. 

The old Elmore, now called the Bannack, adjoining the Oro Eino on the 



32 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

south, has proved itself one of the richest mines ever discovered. In the 
brief period of thirty days during 1868, it produced $500,000, all the quartz 
being worked in a twenty-stamp mill. This is said to be the greatest pro- 
duction ever made in one mouth by any one mine with a mill of such limited 
capacity. Between 1868 and 1876, working a few months at a time and often 
idle, it produced $2,000,000. In 1876 its secretary, with the same officer of 
the Poorman and Mahogany Companies, absconded with all the available 
funds an I the almost simultaneous failure of the Bank of California brought 
ruin upon these companies and temporarily suspended development. The 
Elmore is developed by 1,490 feet of tunneling, and a shaft 220 feet below the 
surface. Its present owners, Messrs. Bruce & Donahoe, are prosecuting de- 
velopment in a small way, and with two men have, for the past three years, 
extracted $15,000 per year. As they work only six or seven months each 
year they can figure a very handsome profit. The vein is from eighteen 
inches to two feet wide, and the ore worked averages $100 per ton. 

The Golden Chariot and Minnesota, now worked as one property, form a 
claim 1,600 feet long, with an ore-body from one to two feet thick. A shaft 
has been sunk to the depth of 1,300 feet, and the yield mainly obtained from 
slopes above the 1,000-foot level has been about $3,000,000. Much rich 
ground is being developed in the lower levels, and the company has recently 
erected superb hoisting works at a cost of $ ( J0,000, proving their confidence 
in the value of the vein at the bottom. The Chariot has paid $350,000 in 
dividends in three years. 

The Mahogany claim, on the extreme southern end of the Oro Fino lode, 
is another of the marvelously rich mines of Silver City in need of a small 
infusion of capital and a liberal one of honest brains to again be placed 
among the heavy producers. It is a solid two-foot vein from the surface to 
a depth of 1,030 feet that will yield $50 per ton. From 1872 to 1876 about 
$1,200,000 were produced from the Mahogany. At the latter date the crash 
elsewhere referred to stopped development and the mine is now full of water. 
Between the 600 and 1,000-foot levels no ore has been removed although 
well enough prospected to establish the fact that hundreds of thousands of 
dollars' worth are there. A nine-ton shipment of Mahogany ore returned 
$8,100. 

The Rattling Jack, on the north end of the Oro Fino lode, is a lately de- 
veloped mine from which eleven tons, extracted during the present season, 
yielded $100 per ton. 

The Poorman has probably yielded the largest quantity of very rich silver 
ore of any mine in the United States. Its first shipment of 100 tons in 1865 
returned $90,000. A fifteen-ton lot was soon after shipped to the Newark, 
New Jersey, smelting works and yielded $75,000. Much of its product was 
so rich that it was carted several hundred miles in wagons and then shipped 
by rail and water to Europe for reduction. In 1866, 2,382 tons of its second 
and third class ore were worked in the Silver City mills, producing $546,691, 
an average of about $230 per ton. The entire production of the Poorman 
has been about $4,000,000. It is famous for producing the finest specimens 
of native and ruby silver ever found in a mine west of Silver Islet. One 
mass of solid " ruby " about two feet square and sixty per cent pure silver 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 33 

was contributed by it to the mining exhibit of the Paris Exposition. It elicit- 
ed universal comment and received a special gold medal. But specimens 
are not rare at Silver City. The windows and cabinets are full of them, 
glittering with native gold or silver, ruby or chlorides. At our Centennial 
Exposition, awards were given to C. S. Miller for gold ores from the South 
Chariot, and silver ores from the Leviathan; Samuel Linton, for gold ores 
from the Golden Chariot; John Catalow, for silver-gold ores from the Gro 
Fino, and silver ores from Home Resort; Captain R. Bledsoe, for bar of lead 
bullion from South mountain, and silver-lead ores (gold-bearing) ; J. C. Len- 
non, for silver-gold ores from the Silver Chord — all mines of this vicinity. 
The Poorman is 620 feet deep, but is worked out only to the depth of 400 
feet and will yet pay its millions. 

The Glenbrook and Clearbrook, near the Poorman, is developed by a tun- 
nel 1,000 feet in length, through which $40,000 worth of ore has been taken 
in the past eighteen months. The vein is two to six feet thick and its pro- 
duct averages $44 per ton. 

At present the War Eagle mine, the property of the War Eagle Mining 
Company, is probably the most actively worked claim at Silver City. A 
depth of 816 feet has been attained and levels driven every 100 feet from 400 
to 1,500 feet in length. There is two feet of solid ore on the eighth level, 
where the product is now mainly extracted, and taking the entire vein through, 
it will average eighteen inches of ore, milling $44 per ton. The product is 
largely silver, readily w T orked under stamp. Thirty men are regularly em- 
ployed, and the product is about $700 per day. The company owns a fine 
twenty-stamp mill, which is at work mainly on War Eagle ore. It also has 
good steam-hoisting works on the mine and is in superb trim in other ways to 
keep up a steady output. 

The Gwyhee Treasury, two and one-half miles northwest of Silver City, 
discovered some nine years ago, but never developed to any extent until the 
present season, makes a very seductive showing. During my visit the miners 
were at work on a two-foct vein of free-gold ore, averaging $45 per ton in 
value, and had thrown out several hundred pounds of rock literally knit to- 
gether with wire gold A forty-pound lot just crushed in a hand-mortar, had 
yielded $48.75 per pound; an eighty-pound lot, $6.30 per pound, and a three- 
pound specimen contained $150 in gold. The product of this mine for 1881, 
produced by four or five men, is estimated at $20,000. 

The Seventy-nine, just below the Treasury, shows a fourteen foot vein for 
a length of 300 feet. The ore is free milling, averaging $30 per ton. If the 
rate of production maintained up to August 1st, is kept up until the close of 
the year the product for 1881 will approximate $30,000. The Empire State r 
near by, is being thoroughly developed by three tunnels, the longest about 
400 feet in length. The vein is strong and well defined, from one to four feet 
thick, and carrying ore that averages $50 per ton. The product for 1881, up 
to August 1st, was about $15,000, and the daily output rapidly increasing 
The Black Jack is another good quartz claim near the above, from which 300' 
tons of ore, yielding $16,500, was taken in six weeks by nineteen men. This 
product paid $11,000 above all expenses. 
3 



34 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



The Morning Star, which has produced among othir lots, one of 100 tons 
of ore giving a yield of $1,000 per ton or $100,000, and which has produced 
altogether $1,000,000; the Owyhee, from which four men extracted $40,000 
each in about eighteen months, in 1878-79 ; the Stormy Hill, which during last 
June gave a return of $2,655 from thirty-one tons of ore ; the Webfoot, whose 
vein of ten feet constantly supplies a twenty-stamp mill and shows a product 
of $700 every day of the month, and various other mines and mining enter- 
prises might be mentioned, were space afforded, to show that old Silver City 
is heard of at the mints if not in other quarters. The shipments of gold and 
silver bullion from Silver City, through Wells, Fargo & Co.'s express, for the 
last six years, while not covering all that is produced, are given to show, in a 
measure, how regular the production has been since the failure of the greatest 
mining enterprises in 1875-76. The shipments are once more constantly in 
creasing. From August to December of the present year they are estimated 
from the best data obtainable. The bullion is mainly silver: 





1876 


1877 


1878 


i 

1879 ! 1880 


1881 


January 


$37, 624. 43 ! $24,254.00 
27,703 40 5,891.71 
9,779.56 4,409.47 
29,473.96 16,814.74 
26,293.56 21,624.00 
52,601.88 49,920.01 
18,858.27; 18,455.95 
10,112.44j 16,115.20 
14,295.48 9fi. 897.^0 


$9,164.00 
6,880.43 


$30,098. 9l! $6,584.17; $13,933.61 

37.lft8.1fl' 9n.f9A.78 1 13 8fiK.ftfl 


March, 


800.00' 6,782 07 ( 1,217.17] 5,201.89 
9,369.14 15,693.83 ! 35,244.21 13,980 63 






17,824.72 14,245.72' 13,025 89 7,740.26 
18,051.52' 53,99rf.44 16,616.69 22,177.57 
50,708.43 7V234.17 24,729.01 77,028.73 
39,670.87: 72,552.49^ 13,886.39 54,000.00 
43,946.67' 26,014.47 17,177.54' 30,000.00 




July . 

August. 




17,105 36 
9,911.72 
6,902.43 


17,100.02 
11, '53. 21 

8,770.00 


50,226.31' 10,001 54 21,420.04 25,000.00 




43,386 62 12,116.98 18,441 71 2 ,000.00 




55,530 38 27,336.62 14,594.82 | 18,000.00 




Totals — 


$260,662.49| $212,54S.81 


$345,559.09' $384,273.43 $203,967.92 $300,929.68 



There is probably no better field open to-day for the investment of capital 
in mining, than right here at Silver City. What is wanted is some honest, 
practical mining done at the mines, and not in New York or San Francisco. 
Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of superb machinery, and other devel- 
opments worth millions, can be purchased for a small fraction of their value 
and utilized in the building up of some of the greatest and most productive 
mining enterprises on the Pacific Coast. The following from a local historian 
concerning a particular property at Silver City, is applicable to half-a-dozen : 
" There can be no doubt at all that this mine is one of the best in Owyhee, 
and at the time of its unfortunate " collapse " in 1876, was employing 100 
men. Briefly the causes leading to the collapse were these: 1st. The Bank 
of California failed, and by reason of which the company became heavily in- 
volved. 2d. The company's agent disappeared with $75,000 of the corpora- 
tion's funds, thus further adding to the embarrassments. 3d. The company 
bought for a large sum a comparatively worthless piece of adjoining ground. 
4th. An assessment being levied, a majority of the stockholders refused to 
pay up ; giving as their reason that the company had been guilty of fraudu- 
lent transactions in buying the ground referred to. 5th. The miners, finding 
they could get no settlement for their three months' work, shut down the mine, 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



35 




Columbia and Beaver Mines, Sawtooth, Idaho. 



and forbade the superintendent for a time to even hoist water. Hence, the 
•collapse. The mine is yet g^>od, and will in the good time coming prove its 
value by sending out bullion, which is, after all the schemes of the manipula- 
tors, the surest and most satisfactory gauge of a mine's value." 

South Mountain. — Thirty miles south of Silver City is the South Moun- 
tain galena district, which is classed among the best in the country. The 
ores carry about forty-five per cent lead and 150 ounces silver per ton. The 
Crown Point, Golconda, Bay State, Rose, Red Fox, Mono, Yreka, Hudson, 
Black Giant and a number of others are producing ore. The veins are from 
one to twelve feet wide and are developed by shafts from fifty to 250 feet 
deep. About $150,000 worth of bullion has been taken from four or five of 
the leading claims. The Varkuff Milling, Mining and Smelting Company, of 
New York City, own all the best mines and have a water-jacket smelter of a 
capacity of twenty-five tons daily. Some of the mines carry zinc and need 
additional smelting facilities, which are to be provided this year. The com- 
paDy has 1,000 tons of ore on hand, nd has contracted for the transporta- 
tion of 200 tons of bullion to the railroad this fall. This would indicate 
-a probable output of $100,000 for 1881. 



36 IDAHO TERRITORY. 



THE MIDDLE BOISE BEGION. 



The quartz and placer mines of the Middle Boise region, embraced m 
Atlanta, Yuba, Queen River and other districts grouped about the head- 
waters of Middle Boise river, have been constantly productive since 1864-'65 r 
during this period contributing several millions of dollars to Idaho's output 
of gold and silver. Atlanta, the natural center of this region, is about 100 
miles northeast of Boise City and some sixty miles north of the line of the 
Union Pacific Railway's Oregon Branch. The formation of the district is- 
granitic, with dykes of syenite and various varieties of porphyritic rock. The 
quartz veins run nearly east and west and carry gold and silver in nearly 
equal proportion, the silver slightly preponderating in most of them. The. 
largest, and thus far most productive mines, are on Atlanta Hill, an isolated 
mountain occupying a space about four miles square between the Middle 
Boise river on the north side and Yuba fork of that stream on the south and 
west. 

Atlanta Hill is full of mineral from base to summit, but the main depos- 
itory is the great Atlanta ledge, which has been traced by croppings on the 
surface for two miles, and is from forty to 100 feet wide. Of this ledge, 
that noted authority on mining matters, Prof. W. A. Hooker, srys : "In the 
great width of the fissure, between the encasing rock, the unusual richness 
and character of its ores, as well as in certain other features, it suggests the 
celebrated Veta Madre, of Guanaxuato; the Veta Grand, of Zacatecas, and 
the famous Comstock, of Nevada," the three greatest silver mines of the 
world; and Prof. J. E. Clayton adds: " It is entitled, by its great strength 
and richness of its ores, to take high rank with the few great mines of the 
west; it contains the purest ores of silver that I have ever seen in. any ex- 
tensive mine." The Monarch wis the first quartz claim developed in the 
district (discovered in the summer of 1864), and is probably the best on the 
vein. It consists of 1,600 feet along the vein and is owned by the Monarch 
Mining Company, of Indianapolis, Ind. There are over a mile of openings- 
in the shape of tunnels, crosscuts, shafts, etc., to prove the assertions of 
these celebrated mining engineers. The greatest depth is 400 feet. There 
are several veins of paying ore, from a few inches to ten feet wide, distributed 
throughout the ledge, carrying ruby silver, black sulphurets, silver glance, 
native silver and native gold. At the point of discovery a veritable treasure- 
box of ruby silver was found, which in the small space of 20x50 feet yielded 
$200,000. In 1876, 1877 and 1878, 1,000 tons of ore were shipped to Omaha, 
which returned $700,000, probably the largest average yield per ton ever 
produced from such a large shipment by one mine in this country. Probably 
the best day's work ever done by one man in a quartz mine was that 
accomplished a few years ago in the Monarch, when one miner in ten hours* 
broke down $50,000 worth of ore. The product literally sparkled with ruby 
and native silver worth $3 per pound. From a block of the Monarch vein, 
300 feet deep and 400 long, $1,100,000 worth of ore has been extracted, and 
there are at least 10,000 tons of $50 ore in sight. The entire working force 
lias averaged only twelve men for several years. This small force has, dur- 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 37 

ing the past eighteen months, taken out $130,000 while carrying on a great 
amount of prospecting and " dead work." 

A small cabinet of Monarch " specimens," weighing, probably, 250 
pounds, in possession of Mr. W. H. Pettit, superintendent, is well worth trav- 
eling hundreds of miles to see. Many of the pieces are almost pure silver, 
in the form of sheets and wires, and there are a number of quartz nuggets of 
almost as pure gold as our royal currency. Gold sulphurets assaying $50,000 
per ton; masses of blood- red ruby, fifty per cent pure silver, and a box of 
small masses of native silver, worth $50 per pound, are among the treasures 
which are being added to daily from the workings of the riahtlv-named 
Monarch mine* 

Rich as it is the Monarch has been worked only spasmodically by an east- 
ern company which made the apparently fashionable (in Idaho) mistake of 
erecting costly mills to crush their ores by the wet process, when it is found 
that the ores must be roasted. The company is being re-organized and is 
arranging to rebuild the mills and push development on the mine as the great 
property deserves. The company is now compelled to pay $30 per ton, f or 
working its ores in a custom mill at Atlanta. 

Just west of and adjoining the Monarch is the Buffalo mine, consisting of 
500 feet along the Atlanta ledge, and owned by the Buffalo Gold and Silver 
Mining Company, Wm. Miller, superintendent. The claim is well devel- 
oped by six levels from 200 to 500 feet in length and a thorough system of 
cross-cuts across the vein — these have been advanced from wall to wall every 
fifty feet on tach level. The main pay vein in the Buffalo is near the south 
wall, averaging two and one-half feet in width, and there are two others from 
eight to twelve inches wide. Much ruby is found in the smaller veins, but the 
large one, while carrying a lower grade of ore, is more reliable. 

The Buffalo has proved one of the most steady producers on the Pacific 
<:oast. No satisfactory data concerning its yield up to 1874 is obtainable, al- 
though many thousands of dollars are known to have been shipped by its 
owners prior to that period. Since 1874 the yield has been uniformly $100,- 
000 per year, one-third of this being gold and the balance silver. The product 
for 1881 will easily reach this previous annual average. Twenty men are reg- 
ularly employed at the mine. They keep the company's ten-stamp mill sup- 
plied with ore about two-thirds of the time (it does not run in winter on ac- 
count of the difficulty of getting in supplies) and also do a vast amount of 
development work. The lower workings are flooded, and powerful pumping 
machinery is soon to be erected. This will not only enable the Buffalo com- 
pany to prosecute work to a great depth, but will affect the Monarch people 
the same way by draining the entire vein for several thousand feet. 

The Buffalo ores now being milled yield from $50 to $100 per ton, and 
40,000 tons, worth $20 to $30 per ton, are blocked out in the veins awaiting 
the cheap transportation era soon to be ushered in by railroads. This vast 
reserve must be concentrated, and that cannot be done profitably under the 
present expensive conditions, all of which will be happily changed when the 
Oregon Branch of the Union Pacific crosses Southern and Central Idaho. But 
the Buffalo mine has richer streaks than would be indicated by the above, 



38 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



much of its highest grade ore having been shipped eastward for reduction aa 
follows : 



Where Reduced. 


Pounds. 


Silver Assay, 
ounces. 


Gold Assay,. 
ounces. 


Net Return. 




19,132 
55,279 

1,218 

20,503 

1,884 
18,399 
2( ,148 
20,158 
19,957 
20,403 
20,481 
20,727 
20,738 
20,328 
19,144 
860 


196.90 

373.20 

3,300 80 

533 

4,66 
491.12 
513.75 
507.90 
525.90 
477.50 
866.50 
807.75 
510.48 
394.20 
456.78 

6,126.70 


9.86 
8.13 \ 
4.16 j 

8.65 
8.44 
9.38 
8.00 
5.35 
5.10 
5 23 
7.20 
10.30 
6.45 
4.90 
6.00 
3.30 


$3,873.51 


Omaha Smelting and Refining Co.— 
Lot A 


19,100.4$ 
7,914.5^ 


" B B 


5,464. 14 
6,805.51 
7,365.70 
6,673.00 
6,660. 1& 
6,453.0(> 
11,325.78 


" B 

" c 


" D 


" E 


" J? 

" G... .................... . 


« H 


11,422.0$ 
7,139.9^ 


" I 


" K 


5,357.95. 


" L 


5,932.7$ 


" L L 


3,164.95. 






Total No. pounds 


299,359 




$114,653.55. 




.... 


Total No. tons 


151 


Average 


per ton .... 


760 dollars. 









Other promising claims on and adjacent to the Atlanta ledge are Lasfe 
Chance (generally considered a feeder of the Monarch), which yields some 
fabulously rich gold ore, and has recently been sold for $25,000; the Ohio, an. 
eight-foot vein, yielding from $40 to $100 per ton; the Buffalo and Atlanta 
mine, developed by a tunnel 1,435 feet long and 350 feet of drifts on a three- 
foot vein, rich in sulphurets of silver, and the Ohio, Magnet, Stanley, Jessie 
Benton, Hard Times, Silver Wave, Tehoma and many others. 

The Tehoma is one of the very best of these. The vein averages about 
ten feet in width, and much of this is ore that yields $55 per ton on an. 
average. The product is about one-fourth gold and three- fourths silver. 
The mine is thoroughly developed by four tunnels, aggregating 1,600 ieet 
along the vein and 300 feet of cross cuts and winzes, all in ore. There are 
some 20,000 tons of ore blocked out by these developments that contain front 
$50 to $100 per ton. Following are some sample yields taken from the com- 
pany's books. All the ots have been quite recently worked: 

48 tons yielded $ 97.50 per ton. 

24 y 2 " ' " 134.50 " " 

53 " " 111.00 " " 

204 " <( 63.75 •' " 

The mine is a monument to the energy and good judgment of Messrs I. N., 
Peddler and James Davis, who have so systematically developed it in the last 
eight years, confident that the policy of putting all 1 their time on one goodB 
claim was better than the method, so much in vogue, of one firm trying to scat- 
ter its efforts on half a dozen or more in the hope of making them all bonan- 
zas. These gentlemen have recently sold the Tehoma, with the ore on hand,, 
to a Meadville, Pa., company for $118,000. 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 39 

The Yuba Tunnel enterprise, near Atlanta, is destined to be one of the 
most important in Idaho. The tunnel is intended to develop the great At- 
lanta ledge — is now in 1,400 feet where a good vein, the North Star, has been 
penetrated. The Lucy Philips, another good claim on the Atlanta ledge, 
will next be developed, while the depth, which will be attained on the Buffalo 
and Monarch, will be 1,000 feet below the deepest workings of those mines. 
About $100,000 has been expended upon this sheme by Judge V. S. Anderson 
and associates. Where the tunnel strikes the Atlanta vein (on North Star 
territory) it is seventy-five feet wide, and possesses many of the character- 
istics of the Monarch. 

In addition to the fine array of large and very rich mines already found at 
Atlanta, there is at least one more vein hidden in her gold-seamed hills. In 
1866 a Frenchman, named Joe Daily, found two tremendous boulders near 
town, much of whose half- ton weight, each, was pure silver and gold. When 
broken up and milled some of the large fragments yielded at the rate of $5 
per pound. Thousands of dollars have since been expended in efforts to find 
the source of these boulders, but without success, although many smaller 
boulders of the same nature have been found. 

Gulch mining in Quartz Gulch (Atlanta) has been carried on successfully 
ever since 1864. In this way the Atlanta vein was found; $100 having been 
taken from a single pan of its decomposed croppings and the miners nat- 
urally soon reaching the solid ledge itself. " Oliver's Summit," near Atlanta, 
has paid $80 to the man and is being mined every summer. Quartz Creek 
claims have yielded $100 per day to the man, and as late as July of the pres- 
ent year a $40-nugget was found. 

Fifteen miles north of Atlanta, on Queen's river, a Meadville, Pa., company 
is working the Joe Daily and Silver Ledge claims; the former a mammoth 
gold and the latter a promising silver vein. A Huntington oscillating crusher, 
of eight tons daily capacity, is working on the gold ore with good success, 
saving from $50 to $100 per ton. The placers of Queen's river are being 
worked by eight or ten Chinese, who clean up about $2,000 each summer. 

The' quartz and placer mines of Atlanta will yield about $250,000 during 
1881. As the new owners of the Tehoma are to erect a twenty-stamp mill 
early next season, and the Monarch and Last Chance are to be more actively 
worked than for years, we may confidently look for a much larger showing 
next year. There is an abundance of the finest pine timber and an unlimited 
water power available at Atlanta. 

OJST THE SOUTH BOISE. 

Sixteen miles southwest of Atlanta, or about eighty miles northeast of Boise 
City, on the headwaters of South Boise river, is Rocky Bar district, famous 
as the home of the Ada Ellmore, Vishnu and other quartz mines, and miles 
upon miles of rich placer diggings. The formation of the country is much 
the same as that surrounding Atlanta, but the ores are mainly gold-bearing. 
The mountains are ribbed with hundreds of veins which are the source of the 
golden wealth of the many gulches. The ore is generally easily worked in 
arastras and stamp mills by the simple wet crushing process; and on this ac- 



40 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

count Rocky Bar can point to its product as a result almott entirely of home 
enterprise and capital. In other words it is a self-sustaining camp. 

The principal ledges are the Ada Ellmore, Idaho, Confederate Star, 
Vishnu, Bonanza, Alturas and Mountain Buck. The Ada Ellmore was lo- 
cated in the summer of 1863, and was among the earliest locations. It lies 
in the bed of Bear creek, about one mile above Rocky Bar, and has been 
worked to a depth of 240 feet below the creek bed. Several levels have 
been run from 100 to 200 feet each upon the vein, and the intervening ground 
stoped out. The vein has averaged two feet in width throughout the entire 
workings, and the ore has yielded $60 per ton. A crushing of nine tons of 
the best ore returned .$4,500. The total product of this mine, says the pies- 
ent superintendent, foots up $1,200,000. This was all obtained from a sec- 
tion of the vein 150 feet deep and 275 feet long. Work has been suspended 
for several years on account of the volume of water and the insufficiency of 
the hoisting power, but this trouble is now nearly remedied, and by January, 
1882, new machinery will insure an average daily yield of $600 to $800. 
In fact, that result is being temporarily obtained now through the use of the 
old machinery. The Ellmore Company owns a very complete ten-stamp mill 
which runs constantly on its own and other ores. Thirty- five men are em- 
ployed at the mine and mill. 

The Confederate Star is a large, strong vein, with pockets of very 
rich ore. It has been worked to a depth of 250 feet. A number A levels or 
drifts have been run upon the vein, the longest being the lower level, 700 
feet in length. The ore is very free gold ore and is easily milled. Tie crop- 
pings of this vein were very rich, often paying as high as $350 per ton in an 
arastra. The general average of the ore has been about $60 per ton, and 
the mine has yielded over $350,000. 

The Vishnu, discovered about the same time as the Ellmore, and located 
near it, consists of two veins, one of which was formerly called the Idaho. 
There are from two to six feet of free milling gold ore in each and the veins 
are developed to a depth of 300 feet by three tunnels, from which over 1,000 
feet of levels are carried through the ore body. The total production, as 
near as can be estimated by the owners, has been $850,000. A twelve-stamp 
mill has been running pretty regularly on Vishnu ores for three years. One 
run of ninety-eight tons yielded $200 per ton, and for months at a time the 
twelve-stamp mill pounded out from $35,000 to $45,000 per nonth. The rock 
will average $60 per ton without assorting. Heavy hoisting works have 
been purchased by the proprietors, Messrs. Reeser & uttle, and will be in 
position next year to work the property " to the deep." 

The Mountain Buck lies about one-fourth of a mile east of and on a line 
with the Vishnu. It has been worked to a depth of forty feet, but a tunnel 
has been run towards the ledge some 500 feet and will cut the vein 175 feet 
from the surface. The ore crushed has yielded on an average $40 per ton, 
but fine specimens liberally streaked with free gold are frequently obtained. 

The Idaho Bonanza and Alturas are situated in Blake's Gulch, about half 
a mile north of Rocky Bar. Several levels have been run upon the veins and 
rich ore found. A tunnel of 1,600 feet strikes the Alturas at a depth of 200 
feet. Crushings from the Idaho Bonanza have netted $175 per ton, while 



42 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

the general average of all ores is $50. The product of these mines can be- 
safely set at $100,000. 

The Wide West is situated in Red Warrior district, one and one-half miles= 
south of Rocky Bar, and is surrounded by ledges that have paid liberally for 
years. The Wide West has been worked to a depth of 300 feet and has been 
thoroughly opened by several shafts and tunnels. The vein has averaged 
two feet in width and has paid $35 per ton in the company's ten-stamp mill. 
The gross yield of this mine has been $300,000 or more. 

The Avalanche, Golden Eagle, Governor Bennett and other mines on Red 
Warrior hill have been worked at a profit. In fact the hill is full of claims- 
that yield from $25 to $100 ore. Most of them need hoisting works to< 
develop to greater depths. A number of smaller veins have been worked 
throughout the camp and good results have been uniformly obtained, but re- 
moteness from railroad communication and the consequent value of all sup- 
plies, as well as the cost of labor, has in the past prevented the working of 
veins whose ore would not pay at least $30 per ton. Ores of this class in 
Colorado would be considered very rich, and, indeed, free gold ores carrying 
$10 to $15 per ton (of which there are tens of thousands of tons in sight at 
Rocky Bar) are jumped at in the Centennial State because of the facility for 
economical handling. Another year, with a railroad only fifty or sixty miles 
away, will make a vast difference in the yield of Rocky Bar. 

Eight miles east of Rocky Bar is the Bonaparte Mine and twenty-stamp 
mill, which promise good things for the immediate future. The mine is de- 
veloped by several levels to a depth of 300 feet. There is plenty of rich ore 
in sight, but I understand it carries antimony, zinc, iron, etc., to such an 
extent that it must be roasted — a matter the company overlooked in the erec- 
tion of its mill. It is understood that furnaces will soon be supplied and 
another misstep in Idaho mining corrected, to the pecuniary benefit of the 
promoters of the scheme and the reputation of the Territory in the mining 
world. 

The Red Warrior, Feather River, Elk Creek and Bear Creek placers, all 
near Rocky Bar, have yielded an aggregate of $2,000,000 or over $100,000 per 
year for the past eighteen years. Some claims on Feather River were so rich 
that three men took out as high as $1,000 in a single day. About seventy-five 
Chinamen and a few whites work these various gulches, and will make them 
pay for many years yet. Some new ditches are being taken out to cover high 
patches of ground hitherto unworked, and it is believed they will consider- 
ably increase the gold yield next year. 

The best authorities estimate Rocky Bar's gold and silver yield for 1881 
at above $200,000. Express shipments are often a good guide in determining 
the production of a camp, but unfortunately for Rocky Bar and Atlanta, at 
least eighty per cent of the shipments of their gulch gold goes through the 
mails, and the Chinese miners have other ways of getting it out of the country. 
However, I present a statement of gold dust and bullion shipments from 
Rocky Bar, through W. C. Tatro's Express, for the fiscal i ear ending June 30>. 
1881, as the only tangible showing to be made: 






IDAHO TERRITORY. 43 

July, 1880 $16,151.00' 

August, " 29,600.50. 

September," 24,017.00 

October, " 14,230.00- 

November, " 22,209.00 

December, " 11,631.00 

January, 1881 2,243.00* 

February, " 5,492.30 

April, " 9,077.00' 

May, " 48,155.00 

June, " 4,241 .00 



Total $187,106.00 

YANKEE FOBK DISTRICT. 

In the rough, mountainous region of Northern-Central Idaho, drained bv 
the headwaters of Salmon river, and 190 miles northwest of Blackfoot (Utah 
& Northern Branch U. P. Ry,) are the Yankee Fork mines, which have re- 
cently been sending to the outer world such marvelously rich quartz as to 
attract the attention of mining men everywhere. Although rich gulches were 
first discovered there in 1870, they failed, on account of their isolation, to 
command general recognition, and not untill 1875, when Mr. W. A. Norton 
located the now world-famous Charles Dickens quartzl edge, did real devel- 
opment of the region, which on many maps is still marked " unexplored' 
country," begin. 

Shortly after the discovery of the Charles Dickens, Curtis Estes found 
rich quartz float on Mt. Estes, at the head of the Jordan, and tracing it up 
discovered what is now known as the Charles Wain ledge. A few months 
after the discovery of the Charles Dickens, E. G. Dodge and others found 
the General Custer and Unknown mines on Mt. Custer, about two miles east 
of Jordan creek and on the south side of the Yankee Fork. 

Early in the season of 1877, James Hooper and party discovered the more 
famous Montana ledge on Mt. Estes, which was soon followed by other rich 
strikes in the same locality. This season, also, explorations on Mt. Custer 
brought to light the Badger, Continental, Summit, Lucky Boy, and other 
veins carrying high-grade ores. 

Many of the early-discovered quartz veins of the Yankee Fork country 
contain high-grade ores, and the miners had only to take out the vein matter,. 
assort, sack and ship it to Salt Lake, or other points, to put themselves in. 
good circumstances. The cost of getting ore to market at that time was 
from $150 to $200 per ton, and as much of the ore shipped was worth 
from $500 to $3,500 per ton, the miners soon stepped from poverty to 
affluence. 

Not less than 200 mineral locations have been made in the district, scat- 
tered here and there through the hills for a distance of ten or twelve miles; 
but the most prominent ones are located in the three great belts that contain 
the bulk of the paying mines of Yankee Fork, namely: Norton Hill, Mt. 
Custer and Mt. Estes. 

The Charles Dickens Belt. — In the group of mines on and adjacent to 
Norton Hill, the Charles Dickens is the great heart or center. It is what is- 



44 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

termed a fissure vein, and is traced and located from the Dickens discovery 
easterly to the Yankee Fork at Custer City, and westerly to the summit of 
the divide between Jordan and West Fork creeks, jx distance of over two 
miles. The ledge does not crop out like many others, but it is easily traced 
by the great amount of float lying in the course of the vein. 

The Dickens has paid from the date of its discovery. At first the richest 
gold ore was crushed in small hand mortars, and in this way sometimes over 
$1,000 per day was realized. About $12,000 was pounded out the first month 
of discovery, two men doing the work. They then sacked a few tons of ore, 
part of which they shipped to Salt Lake and the remainder to Swansea. The 
net results were $15,000. The highest grade sampled $3,700 per ton. The 
season following, a lot of twenty-three tons, netting something over $17,000, 
was shipped. In the season of '78, a two-bed arastra, with pan and settler, 
was built at a cost of $19,400, and was started up late in August. By the 
first of November, crushing two tons of quartz per day, the arastra had pro- 
duced bullion to the amount of $32,000. The machinery is propelled by 
water power, and generally starts up about the first of May and shuts down 
early in November. The monthly yield runs from $10,000 to $12,000. 

There is no mine in the district so well developed as the Dickens. During 
the winter, six to eight men are employed on it, and double this force through 
summer and fall. Ore to the amount of 7,000 tons has accumulated on the 
different dumps and in the ore houses. Besides several surface openings, 
there are two tunnels following the vein, connected by a 120 foot winze. The 
upper, or first tunnel, is nearly 500 feet hi length, and about 180 feet below 
the apex of the ledge, or that point at which discovery was made. The sec- 
ond tunnel starts in on the vein 120 feet vertically below the first, and on the 
first of August of the present year had attained a distance of about 900 feet. 
The vein is usually from six to twelve feet in width, but often widens out to 
twenty feet and over. No lean spot has as yet been encountered in the whole 
distance of 900 feet; on the contrary, the ledge improves in quantity and 
quality of its vein matter as development is carried forward. Cross-cuts at 
different points prove that the Dickens is a mine of great magnitude and al- 
most fabulously rich in both gold and silver. The best grade of ore samples 
from $1,000 to $2,500 per ton, and the second class from $100 to $200, while 
thousands of tons of third class, or $40 to $50 ore, remain on the dumps 
awaiting the erection of machinery. In cross-cutting southward where the 
tunnel had reached a distance of nearly 800 feet, an exceedingly fine vein of 
quartz was cut thirty feet from and parallel with the main ledge. Whether 
it belongs to the Dickens or is a separate vein has not yet been determined. 
The new strike is four feet in width, and is as rich as the Dickens, a great 
portion of it showing largely of sulphurets of silver and free gold, worth 
$1,000 and upwards per ton. The ore is so free that it works well in the 
arastra. Eighteen inches of the new vein samples nearly $1,400. Since this 
last discovery, a cross-cut has been run south from the end of the upper tun- 
nel, and the same vein found in it and of equal size and richness as where 
cut in the lower tunnel, which makes the mine one of the most valuable on 
the Pacific coast. At the depth of 300 feet, the Dickens quartz carries gold 
and silver in nearly equal quantities, but nearer the surface gold largely pre- 



IDAHO TERRITORY. ±5 

dominates. This celebrated mine is the property of Wm. A. Norton and 
John Rohrer, of Yankee Fork, and Fred. Phillips of Salmon City. 

The Pilot, adjoining the Dickens on the west, shows a good, strong vein 
of ore five to eight feet wide. West of the Pilot, and also on the Dickens 
vein, is the noted Paradise, where 300 feet of tunneling has developed a fine 
body of high grade ore. The Passover is another extension of the great 
Dickens vein in that direction. On the east end of the vein is the Monte- 
zuma and other good claims, and parallel with it, are the Daniel O'Connell, 
with a vein three to five feet wide, carrying much ore worth $800 to $1,000 
per ton, the Washington, Centennial, Beecher, Commodore, and others, all 
showing rich mineral. 

The Mount Custer Mines. — In the Mt. Custer belt the General Custer is the 
most prominent of the many ledges that show large and rich bodies of ore. 
It is not only the great mineral wealth of the district but of the entire coast, 
inasmuch as nothing that will bear any comparison to it has as yet been 
found. It is the only instance on record where a ledge so immense in 
wealth and size was already opened and developed when the eyes of the pros- 
pector first looked upon it. Ore bodies are usually found beneath the sur- 
face, and miners consider themselves very fortunate, if after long searching 
by shafts and tunnels, they strike a vein that insures them reasonable divi- 
dends over and above cost of development. The Custer required no outlay 
of money to make it a paying mine. Its face was good for millions. Nature, 
in one of her philanthropic moods, did the prospecting and development. 
The outer wall of this great treasure-vault, through the wear and tear of 
ages, crumbled and slipped from the ore-body for a distance of several hun- 
dred feet, leaving many thousands of tons of the very choicest rock lying 
against the mountain side to be broken down at little expense. 

The Custer, where it shows above ground, is sixty to 100 feet or more in 
width, and is known to be all of 600 feet in length. The discoverers in the sea- 
sons of '77 and '78 shipped $60,000 worth of ore from an open cut 30x40 feet, 
most of which sampled $500 per ton. One lot shipped to San Francisco gave 
over $900 per ton. The best of the ore mills from $700 to $1,000 per ton. 
Although recognized as a silver mine, the Custer bullion contains fifteen to 
twenty per cent gold. The mining engineers who came to examine the 
property soon after its discovery, reported $2,500,000 to $3,000,000 in sight. 
In July of 1879 the mine changed hands, the original owners transferring 
their different interests to Messrs. Hagin & Tevis, of San Francisco, Geo. W. 
Grayson, of Oakland, and Pfeiffer Bros., of Bonanza. The price aggregated 
about $160,000. In the summer of 1880 the machinery for a twenty-stamp 
mill was purchased of Fraser & Chalmers, Chicago, and shipped in. By the 
first day of January, 1881, the mill was completed and ready to commence the 
manufacture of bullion. Owing to various hindrances, only ten stamps were 
in operation until early spring, since which time they have all been doing 
regular duty. The mill is a model for the reduction of silver ores, and has 
all the improved appliances for that purpose. It cost $130,000, and paid for 
itself in a few weeks after getting down to steady work. It is claimed by 
professional mill men and miners, that the Custer company's mill has pro- 
duced more bullion for the time it has been in operation, than any one of 



46 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

similar capacity within the history of modern mining, except the Elmore 
mill, of Silver City, Idaho. By the first of July, 200 bars or bricks had been 
oast, the total value of which approximated one-half million dollars, and 
this while running principally on second-class or $130 to $180 ore. The 
mine is situated 2,000 feet above the mill, and connected therewith by 
tramway. The ore repository at the mill has a capacity of 1,000 tons; but an 
additional ore house, with a capacity of 6,000 tons, is to be erected this fall. 

Up to date of closing our reports (September 1st), the Custer company 
will have produced 240 bars of bullion, valued at $650,000. 

The Unknown mine lies directly east of and is a continuation of the 
-Custer vein, but is not of so great dimensions as the latter. The property is 
held principally by the owners of its neighbor, the Custer. Nearly $100,000 
worth of ore was shipped during the seasons of 1877-8, the average yield per 
ton being about $450. Work has been carried forward vigorously on the 
Unknown for some months past, and the dump contains from 800 to 1,000 
tons of ore that averages nearly $200 per ton. It is estimated that the ore 
in sight in the mine is worth $1,000,000. 

On the summit of Mt. Custer, and directly above the Gen. Custer, is the 
Summit mine, another large and rich ledge. The ore works $230 per ton by 
arastra. The vein is opened to a depth of 150 feet by tunnel and by shafts 
at different points which developments give it an established reputation for 
wealth and permanency. 

East and south of the Custer are the following: the Badger, vein two to 
twelve feet wide, developed by two tunnels, the lower striking the vein 250 
feet below the surface and the ore yielding $150 to $650 per ton; the Conti- 
nental, a very productive claim for the past three years, whose product 
yields from $50 to $150 per ton; the Eureka, having an incline shaft in three 
fe< t of ore that assays $140 per ton, and the Anna, Blue Wing, Three Times 
Loser, Silver Chariot and many others. On the south side of Mount Custer 
is the Lucky Boy vein which has been opened at different points for over 
3,000 feet, responding liberally everywhere with ore worth $50 to $100 per 
ton. Near it are the Silver Bell, Gen. Miles and other promising locations. 

West of the Custer we find the Grand Prize, Golconda, Whistler, and Alta, 
in which are large bodies of medium and low grade ores. On the north slope 
of Mt. Custer are a number of locations on which good ore is found, but as 
yet the veins are not developed into paying mines. All the Mt. Custer 
ledges carry more or less gold, some of them as high as forty per cent of the 
assay value. 

Mt. Custer is covered with a heavy growth of timber, as indeed is the whole 
Yankee Fork country. A good wagon road was built two years ago from the 
Yankee Fork to and beyond the Summit of Mt. Custer. Want of space for- 
bids a detailed mention of all the mines on this famous mountain. The belt 
is two miles wide and three long, in which are scores of quartz veins, almost 
every one of them of good width and full of rich gold and silver ores. Some 
of the ledges are opened at different points for a distance of 4,500 to 9,000 
feet, which is sufficient proof that they are true fissure veins and not pockets 
or chimneys, as is the case in many mining districts. 



48 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

Mines of Mt. Estes. — This belt of quartz ledges lies at the head of the 
Jordan and Eight-Mile creeks, live miles north of Bonanza, and about the 
same distance from Custer. It contains some exceedingly rich veins, so rich, 
in fact, that their equal is seldom found. 

The first discovery, the Charles Wain, has been under development for 
three years past, and has produced considerable shipping and much ore of 
other grades. There is a tunnel 150 feet in length on the vein, and from this 
a shaft is down 75 feet, showing about fifteen inches of first-class ore, and 
three feet of medium. Selected quartz from the mine assays .$500 to $ 800. 
Free gold and horn silver are not uncommon in the Wain. 

Five hundred feet below the top of Mt. Estes, and at an altitude of 9,500 
feet, is the celebrated Montana mine. This vein is not only of great richness, 
but also of great width. It is four to sixteen and one-half feet in width, and 
is full of good ore from wall to wall. The first-class samples from $2,000 to 
$3,500 per ton; second, $700 to $1,200, and there is on the dump several 
hundred tons of $100 to $150 ore, which latter will not be handled until such 
time as machinery is erected to work the Montana quartz. From the day 
the Montana was struck, it has been a paying mine. The richest ore is so 
abundant that four to six men can take out $15,000 to $25,000 worth per 
month. The first of May last over $80,000 worth of quartz lay in the ore 
houses, all of which had been mined by four men in less than six months. 
Although rich in gold, the Montana carries a large per cent of silver in the 
form of sulphurets and horn silver. Sometimes the gold is in threads and 
wires, and again in thin sheets, and often in the form of nuggets. Some of the 
ledge matter is so rich that it is not shipped, but is worked in a mortar at the 
mine. Thousands of dollars have been taken out in this manner. Very re- 
cently ninety ounces was had from a small lot of selected ore, and previously 
$1,800 was cleaned up from 225 pounds. The free gold was w T orth $12 and 
over per ounce. Most of the assorted ore taken from the working shaft av- 
eraged about $1,500 per ton. One lot of twenty tons yielded over $60,000. 
This is pronounced by mining men the richest vein of quartz ever discovered, 
taking the whole vein matter from wall to wall. At a depth of 155 feet a 
level connects the main shaft with a winze forty feet to the east. At this 
depth the whole face of the drift averages over $300 per ton. There are 
vast quantities of the very finest quality of ore in sight, which can now be 
raised at very little expense. The vein has been found at different points on 
the surface for about 800 feet. 

Joining the Montana on the southeast is the Hidden Treasure, seventy- 
five feet deep, showing a fine ore body yielding $50 to $250 per ton. The 
Yankee Fork, a vein four feet wide, of which twelve inches samples $300 per 
ton, and the Cynosure, Snow Bird, Pioneer and Omaha are good claims adja- 
cent. On the northeast slope of Mt. Estes are a number of claims carrying 
two to five feet of good ore, among them the Tonto, Fraction and Colorado. 
On the southwest slope are the Gold Stone, Antelope, Golden Gate and others, 
and on the west side of Jordan creek, opposite Mt. Estes some very largfc 
veins of medium grade ore, among them the Whale and Wonder. 

The mineral bearing quartz of Yankee Fork is found in porphyry belts 
that vary in width from one-fourth mile to three miles. The contact is usu- 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 49 

ally gray syenite. Constant development on prominent veins give promise of 
permanency as well as continued richness. What the district most needs is 
more mills. There is already ore enough in sight to keep many stamps em- 
ployed. A good custom mill would be a valuable acquisition to the district. 
If there was a home market for the ores, scores of ledges, now not productive, 
would soon become; large producers. Since the discovery of the Charles 
Dickens ledge, the product of the camp has aggregated, including the ores 
shipped, about 82,000,000. The yield from the General Custer, Charles Dick- 
ens, and the Montana, for the year 1881, will approximate $1,250,000. When 
we consider that there are only twenty stamps and one arastra in the dis- 
trict, the product is astonishing. 

At the mouth of Yankee Fork a New York company, with Gen. E. E. Cun- 
ningham, as superintendent, is engaging extensively in placer mining. The 
company owns about ten miles of the bars on both sides of the Salmon, below 
Yankee Fork. Two ditches, carrying 4,000 inches of water, are completed, 
and with improved hydraulic machinery must make the enterprise one of 
profit. Tic bars along the Salmon at this point prospect well, and have in 
years past yielded large quantities of gold by the slow methods of drifting, 
working in small sluice boxes, and by the use of hand rakes. 

The Morrison placers, near Bonanza City, have yielded about 8100,000 
and are contributing a very respectable sum to the Yankee Fork product 
annually. 

Twenty miles in a southwesterly direction from Bonanza is an extensive 
area of placers, known as Stanley Basin. The mines were discovered in 1863, 
and hive been worked every season since that time. Owing to the limited 
supply of water the mining season is short, generally closing in August. Sev- 
eral companies are operating there and doing well, and the ground cannot be 
exhausted in a score of years. Joe's Gulch, a small tributary of the Stanley 
Basin, is the richest placer gulch in the Salmon River country. The dirt is 
drifted out and washed, and the claims yield in this manner $10,000 to 815,000 
each per year. 

BAY HOUSE, KINNIKINIK, EAST FOBK, ETC. 

From 150 to 1G5 miles west of the Utah & Northern Branch of the Union 
Pacific Railway, and occupying a wide belt along the eastern and southeast- 
ern rim of the Salmon River country, are Bay Horse, Kinnikinik, Poverty 
Flat and other important silver districts. There is a region here five to ten 
miles wide, and some forty miles long, abounding in strong fissure veins, car- 
rying silver in almost every conceivable shape, a large number o: them yield- 
ing ores of a very high grade. 

Chief among the veins in Bay Horse district is the Ramshorn. It is sit- 
uated about six miles from Salmon river, on a very precipitous mountain 
overlooking Bay Horse creek at an altitude of about 9,400 feet. It is often 
pronounced the longest continuous quartz lode ever discovered; some experts 
going so far as to assert that there are twenty-nine claims of 1,500 feet 
each upon it, and that it can be traced for eight miles by croppings on the 
surface. It is in a slate formation, the vein between walls averaging six feet, 
and the ore-body varying from two to seven feet in width. The ore is tech- 
1 



50 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

nically a copper-silver ore, but at places carries considerable lead, and just 
enough iron to form a good flux for smelting. Gray copper, native silver, 
ruby silver and chloride are plentiful in the first-class ores of the Ramshorn 
mines. Some most beautiful masses, flaked with native silver, were being 
extracted at the time of our recent visit. This claim is owned by Messrs. J. 
E. W. Jones, N. E. Linsley, and other residents of Salt Lake City. It is 
opened by tunnels, shafts and open cuts in some thirty places. The deepest 
workings, about 700 feet below the surface, show the ore body to be of grat- 
ifying uniformity in size and richness. 

The Ramshorn has paid splendidly from the day the pick was first struck 
into its bountiful croppings to the present. Commencing with 1878, the sum- 
mer's working of the Ramshorn produced forty-eight tons of first-class ore — 
which sold in Salt Lake for $37,000— and a large dump of lower grade. In 
1879, seventy-eight tons were shipped, averaging 490 ounces silver per ton. 
Last season 500 tons were supplied to the Bay Horse smelter, near by, of 
which only a few tons yielded as low as $100 per ton, and by far the larger 
proportion running from $200 to $500 per ton. The total production for the 
past four summers, with a working force of from ten to twenty men, has 
been $400,000, without counting the large reserve of second and third-class 
ores for utilization when additional facilities for smelting are afforded. 

The Ramshorn has produced about 800 tons of ore during 1881, yielding 
from $140 to $800 per ton. It will probably pay $75,000 in dividends during 
the year, as its total production will be about $200,000, and it is one of the 
most skillfully and economically handled mines on the Pacific Coast, or in the 
world, for that matter. Many mines yield small lots of very high grade ore, 
but few ever maintain an output of ores of such high average grade as the 
Ramshorn. Following is its record since first worked, four years ago, the 
yield for 1881 being partially estimated: 

Shipments. Value per Ton Silver. 

1878.— Tons to Salt Lake City, 48 73G ozs. 

1879.— " " " 78 477 " 

1880.— " " " and Bay Horse Smelter, 518 201 " 

1881.— Tons to Bay Horse smelter, 800 248 " 

During the first two years it cost so much to transport the ores to Salt 
Lake that only the first class was shipped. Since that about everything that 
comes from the ore chutes goes to the smelter without assorting, and the 
returns of 1880 and 1881 are a fair index of the average value of the immense 
pay vein of the Ramshorn. 

The Beardsley, some three miles from the above, Robert Beardsley & Co., 
owners, is another mine of which the district may well boast. The vein is a 
" contact'' between lime and slate, and carries carbonates worth all the way 
from $30 to $1,000 per ton. In 1,500 feet, thirteen openings have been made, 
exposing an ore body from four to six feet thick, and in one case fifteen feet. 
Various tunnels and inclines following the vein from 130 to 180 feet, expose 
beautiful ore bodies, in walls so solid that no timbering has been necessary. 
In 1879, thirty-three tons of ore yielded at the Salt Lake smelters 112 ounces 
silver per ton. In 1880, 500 tons were marketed at the Bay Horse smelter, half 
a mile distant, of which one-third was " high grade, " and the balance would 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



51 



rank "fair" in most mining regions. During 1881 some good shipments 
were made, averaging sixty-eight ounces silver and thirty per cent lead, and 
at a depth of 180 feet a new and valuable ore body was developed. 

The Skylark, owned by the Bay Horse Mining & Smelting Company, an 
Omaha organization, makes a grand showing for 1881. It has a vein of from 
one to four feet of solid clean ore, which yields from $150 to $800 in silver. 
Its production for the year is about 400 tons, worth in the neighborhood of 
$75,000. It is developed by a tunnel of 150 feet, and several minor openings, 
exhibiting a small fortune yet to be extracted by its enterprising possessors. 

The Kiverview, near by, is developed by two tunnels, the first about 
eighty feet, and the other 180 feet in length, and shows a fine pay streak two 
to four feet wide, from which about 100 tODS of ore taken this year averaged 
100 ounces silver per ton, and forty-five per cent lead. The Excelsior, an ex- 
tension of the Beardsley, showing a fine body of carbonates running sixty to 
eighty ounces silver and twenty per cent lead; the Bull of the Woods, 
which this season shipped some twenty tons of ore, worth $150 to $700 per 
ton; the Hood, which was last year purchased by the Omaha company, 
above referred to, for $900, and yielded $5,000 worth of ore inside of sixty 
days, and this year has produced about 250 tons of ore, averaging $60 per ton 
silver and twenty-five per cent lead ; the Silver Wing, Idaho, Post Boy, Utah 
Boy, and Good Enough, and several others maybe ranked as good claims on the 
list of permanent producers. The Utah Boy shipped fifty tons of ore last year, 
worth $80 to $650 per ton, and the Silver Wing sixty tons, worth from $130 
to $650 per ton. 

I append a statement of partial ore shipments made by a few prominent 
Bay Horse mines this year to show their uniformly high grades. The figures 
are taken at random from the large number of shipments made by the mines 
named to arrive at a fair average: 



RAMSHORN. 


SKYLARK. 


BULL OF THE WOODS. 


Shipments. 


Yield 
pei Ton 


Shipments. 


Yield | 
per Ton 


Shipments. 


Yield 
per Ton 






Silver. 






Silver. 






Silver. 


Lot. 


Pounds. 


Ounces. 


Lot. 


Pounds. 


Ounces. | 


Lot. 


Pounds. 


Ounces. 


1 


G4,O0O 


132 


1 


28,000 


496 


1 


2,000 


658 


2 


46,000 


129 


2 


21,000 


155 


2 


11,000 


352 


3 


33,000 


125 


3 


21,000 


216 


3 


16,000 


454 


4 


19,000 


618 


4 


21,000 


226 


4 


2,000 


641 


5 


33,000 


125 


5 


20,000 


184 


5 


2.000 


120 


6 


10,000 
42,000 
45,000 
30,000 


742 
174 
163 
610 


6 

7 
8 
9 


20,000 
20,000 
12,000 

18,000 


210 
175 
140 
137 


Average per Ton. . . . 


446 


7 
8 


REDEMPTION 







SHIPMENTS. 


Yield 


10 


45,000 
42,000 


180 
140 


10 
11 


22,000 

20, COO 


153 
128 


per Ton 


11 




Silver. 


12 


40,000 
15,000 


164 

196 


12 

13 


19,000 

2,000 


110 

307 


Lot 


Pounds. 


Ounces. 


13 




8,000 
41,000 

4, COO 
30,000 
13,000 
27,000 

3 000 




14 


42,000 


104 


14 


10,000 


110 


1 

2 


53 

45 
181 
45 
73 
53 
421 


15 


41,000 


140 


15 


7,000 


314 


16 


51,000 


207 


16 


16,000 


193 : 


4 
5 
6 

7 


17 


42,000 


179 


17 


9,000 


166 : 


18 


41,000 


197 


IS 


31,000 


140 


19 


15,000 


746 


19 


20,000 


160 


20 


46,000 


186 


20 


20,000 


156 1 


8 

9 

10 


23,000 

16,000 

5,000 

5,000 

65,000 


45 

257 
53 


21 
22 


47,000 
4G,000 


150 
134 


21 
22 


16,000 

2,000 


170 ! 
394 | 


23 


40,000 
rage per Ton.... 


175 


23 

Avei 


10,0C0 
'age per Ton. 


151 | 


11 

12 


279 




243 


199 


50 




Avei 


•age per Ton... . 


129 



52 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

The Bay Horse mines are all dry, and judging from the peculiar formation 
of the country, will remain so to a great depth, thus doing away with 
costly pumping machinery. The mountains are full of ore of the different 
kinds and grades necessary for successful smelting. They are also covered 
with timber for fuel, and almost every ravine affords water-power. 

As an instance of what a moderate amount of capital, backed by good judg- 
ment, will do in distant lands like this, we will tell the experience of the Bay 
Horse Mining and Smelting Company, an- Omaha organization, operating 
three miles west of Salmon river, on Bay Horse creek. The smelter consists 
simply of a water-jacket furnace, a five- stamp battery and a Blake crusher, the 
whole run by a Leffel turbine wheel of thirty-five or forty horse power. It 
was completed and fired up October 1, 1880, at a total cost of $35,000. The 
first thirty days' run the smelter produced base or lead bullion to the amount 
of $100,000, and those who should know say that the company's profit on the 
month's work almost paid for the entire outlay on smelter and running 
expenses. The smelter was only operated about six Aveeks, cold weather 
interfering with the water-power and with getting ore and charcoal down 
from the neighboring mountains. The smelter has a capacity of twenty-five 
tons of ore daily, and the product is from three to four tons of base bullion, 
worth $800 to $1,400 per ton. This year it operates six or seven months, and 
ships bullion to the amount of $300,000. 

Sixteen miles south of the Bay Horse smelter, at Clayton, in the heart of 
Kinnikinik district, another Omaha company, the Salmon River Mining and 
Smelting Company, Captain C. B. Rustin, president, has during 1881 placed 
in operation works of about the same capacity as those described above, but 
of a much more substantial and improved pattern. The present capacity is 
thirty tons of ore daily, but power and room are provided in the works for 
an increase to ninety tons when such an ore supply is assured. The smelter 
ran sixty- six days during the summer of 1881, producing 220 tons of base or 
lead bullion, containing 400 ounces silver per ton, a total product of about 
$100,000 for the season. 

Just back of the smelter, on a range overlooking Salmon river, is the 
great Ella vein, which has been traced by openings on the surface for four 
miles. The vein is encased in lime, and is a rich lead carbonate (sometimes 
also running up to fifty per cent iron), which in several claims has paid from 
the surface down. The pay-streak averages about two and a half feet, and 
the ore thus far shipped yields from $30 to $200 per ton. The Overland and 
the Faithful Boy claims on the Ella lode are producing good smelting ore 
in fair quantities in the earliest stages of development. 

On Poverty Elat, four miles from the Salmon river smelter, are also a 
number of very promising silver mines. The Silver Bell shows a three-foot 
pay vein. This claim is the property of the smelting company, and is being 
most vigorously developed. Its product for 1881 is in round numbers $30,000. 
The Redemption, a neighboring claim, with the labor of six men, produced 
300 tons of ore during last summer, of which twenty-one tons yielded $420 
in silver per ton, one ton $670, and the remainder an average of $150 per ton. 
During 1881 it has produced 150 tons, worth about $100 per ton. 

East Fork district, thirty-five miles from the Salmon river smelter, com- 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



53 



prises a valuable group of about twenty-five locations. The ores are galenas, 
carbonates and free millinsr. The highest grades of ore from which assays 
have been had, give from 300 to over 700 ounces silver per ton. Among the 
most prominent mines are the Germania, Old Bible Back, Croesus, Full Hand, 
Alta, Idaho, Suderberg, Arctic, Warsaw, Silver Shield, Top, Silver Bell, 




Lucky Boy Mine, Sawtooth, Idaho. 

Deseret, Washington, Yellow Jacket, Golden Wonder, Sperling, etc. Ten 
tons of 180-ounce ore were packed to the Salmon river smelter this season 
from the Idaho, and fifty tons from the Germania containing 140 ounces 
silver to the ton. The Croesus, a vein apparently seventy-five feet wide, is 
wonderfully rich in free gold ores, and was creating quite a sensation during 
the summer of 1881. With a road to the smelter (now nearly completed) 
thousands of tons of ore now exposed but hardly rich enough to pay the 
exorbitant charges for " packing" will find a good market, and place the 
East Fork district on the list of Idaho's best mineral producers. 

On Squaw creek, four miles above Clayton, is a cluster of productive 
silver mines, the Red Bird, Saturday aud Mollie D. being especially note- 
worthy. The Red Bird is an important source of supply for the Clayton 
smelter, as it is a steady shipper of ore worth thirty to 185 ounces silver, and 
containing twenty- five to seventy per cent lead. The ore chute has been 
from fifteen to twenty feet wide. The Saturday shows an ore vein six to 
.eight leet wide, and has produced from 190 feet of openings 1,000 tons, wort 



54 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

from $40 to $90 in silver per ton, and containing thirty to sixty- five per cent 
lead. The Mollie D. is a three -foot vein of ore similar in character and rich- 
ness to the above, and it shows over 500 tons of ore on the dump. 

SNAKE BIVEB GOLD FIELDS. 

Ever since the earliest Idaho and Montana " stampede, " gold has been 
known to exist in different bars along Snake river, Idaho, and in recent years 
it has been demonstrated that there are fair diggings at intervals for 1,000 
miles along that great stream. The metal, however, was generally found in 
the form of "flour gold," and, during all these years, has been passed by as 
almost worthless, because it could not be saved by the ordinary process of 
sluicing. Only two or three years ago several ingenious Salt Lake miners 
began experimenting with green copper plates electroplated with silver, by 
which the precious metal, however fine, may be saved at slight expense. 
Careful investigators assert that the plate process is bound to revolutionize 
placer mining where gold is discovered in particles too small to^pan or sluice, 
and that this, the largest placer mining field in the world, will soon be lined 
with these comparatively inexpensive machines and thousands of operators. 

Near Blackfoot, a number of claims are successfully worked, that of 
Messrs. Lawrence & Homes regularly cleaning up, with the use of two ma- 
chines, from $15 to $20 per day to the man. Sixty miles below Blackfoot, at 
Bonanza Bar, C. D. Lane, who has for several years owned one of the best 
claims there, has averaged a production of $800 per month for ten months 
out of each year with the labor of four men. His claim is good for this pro- 
duction lor twenty years, and ne has recently sold it for $60,000. Ten miles 
below Bonanza Bar, at the mouth of Raft river, several companies are mak- 
ing good wages with the machines above noted. Thiee miles lower down, 
Ranchon & Bryan clean up $5 per oay to the man the year round. In Sho- 
shone Canon, thirty-eight miles below Raft river, sixty Chinamen and a few 
white miners stick to the primitive "rocker, " and clean up $3 to $5 per 
day. Here as high as $100 per day to the man has been taken out in excep- 
tional cases. Fourteen miles below the camp last named, at Boulder Hill, J. 
R. Briggs is mining with sluices on some of the best gravel yet found along 
Snake river, producing an average of $16 per day himself. At Salmon Falls,, 
twelve miles below Boulder Hill, Davis & Schroder work five men and two 
to three machines the year round on their 160-acre claim. They produce 
from $1,000 to $2,500 per month, their clean-up for June of this year reach- 
ing the latter amount. Justin & Smith, near by, clean up $5 per day to the 
man the year round. On Eureka Bar, six miles below Salmon Falls, two 
claims are successfully worked; also at Glen's Ferry, twenty miles below Eu- 
reka. At Dorsey's Ranch, forty miles below the ferry named, a claim just 
sold at good figures has produced $12 per day to the man (four men work- 
ing) nine months out of the year for several years. 

As far down as Lewiston, and beyond, a distance of three or four hundred 
miles, claims are being profitably worked eight to ten months in the year. 
The total yield of these placers for 1881 is estimated at $200,000. That this 
amount will be quadrupled in the near future scarcely admits of a doubt, for 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 55 

careful examination of the country, and frequent tests of the ground, indi- 
cate that the metal abounds almost everywhere along ihe river. 

WOOD RIVEB. 

Wood river drains a region 140 miles from north to south, and 100 miles 
east and west. It is a clear, strong current, about 150 feet wide and from 
three to four feet deep. Its principal tributaries are the Malacl, Little Wood 
river, Rock creek, Silver creek, Elk creek, East Fork, Deer creek, Warm 
Springs creek, North Fork, Boulder, Cherry and White Cloud creeks, nearly 
all passing through valuable mineral country, and their romantic valleys and 
canons leading right and left by easy grades two to twenty miles up from the 
main stream to the mines already described. The mining districts rise from 
an elevation of 5,200 feet at Bellevue to between 8,000 and 9,000 feet at Ga- 
lena, in a distance of forty-five miles. 

Wood river is the center of one of the most extensive belts of heavy 
galena ores in the world. Last year's developments proved that district after 
district of argentiferous galena exist all the way from the low hills, at the 
base of the Wood river range northward to the divide of Wood and Salmon 
rivers, a distance of forty- five miles, and almost continuously from Bay 
Horse district (described elsewhere) westerly to the south tributaries of the 
Boise river. This great silver-bearing region is twenty to fifty miles in 
width and 130 to 110 miles in length. Though from 150 to 200 miles from 
the nearest railroad station, and until within two years entirely without 
wagon roads, its importance has steadily grown, and it may now be regarded 
as the most promising mining section in Idaho, if not in the entire West. The 
rapid extension of the Oregon Branch of the Union Pacific Rail >vay will make 
the several camps more easily accessible within one year than was Leadville 
in its most prosperous days, and will hasten the development of the hun- 
dreds of mines already yielding payirg ore. 

The entire region is popularly divided into three separate districts, each 
of which possesses some distinguishing feature. The largest veins and richest 
ores have been found on the west side of this river, and this section is called 
the Bullion and Warm Springs Mineral Belt, embracing the tive prominent 
camps, Jacob's, Bullion, Deer Creek, Greenhorn and Warm Springs Creek. 
The formation is quartzite, slate and porphyry. The ores are galena and car- 
bonates, sixty to eighty per cent lead, with some antimony and copper, and 
yielding $100 to $400 silver per ton. On the same side of Wocd river, and 
southwest from the above belt, is the Ornament Hill and Willow Creek dis- 
trict, embracing tremendous quartz ledges in a granite belt containing gold, 
silver, copper, lead and antimony. The Ornament Hill mines have the only 
free milling ores yet found along Wood river, and are fabulously rich in. sil- 
ver, with traces of gold. On the east side of Wood river, in the East Moun- 
tain range, is probably the largest belt. The mines aie found in calcareous 
shale, lime and quartzite, and the ores yield from $50 to $200 per ton. East 
Fork, Elkhorn, Lake Creek, Boulder and Galena are the principal camps. In 
all of these districts, true fissure veins, rich from the surface down, are 
found. 



56 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

The Ornament Hill ore is free milling, though a roaster is necessary to 
prepare it for the stamps. The principal mines of this district are the Orna- 
ment, Ohio South, Ohio North and Utah. They are all in a contact vein be- 
tween porphyry and granite, and which crops out for more than a mile. At 
the bottom of a shaft 100 feet deep, on the Ornament, there is four feet of 
high-grade quartz ; about twenty tons were shipped this season yielding $300 
per ton. Steam hoisting works are being erected, and the shaft sunk another 
100 feet. A twenty- stamp mill will be erected near Hailey early in 1882, to 
work these ores if the Ornament continues its splendid start to a depth of 
200 feet. In the same district and one mile from the above group, are the 
Oriental, Bismarck, Idaho Belle, anel Kegulator, all showing splendid mineral, 
and located on a mammoth vein which has been traced more than four miles 
still further south. Two miles distant another group has been located, only 
one of which, the Guy, has been developed to any extent. One lot of ten 
tons from this mine sold for $685 per ton in Salt Lake last year, while smaller 
selected lots have yielded as high as $1,000 per ton. 

The Warm Springs or Bullion Belt embraces five important camps — 
Jacob's, Bullion, Deer Creek, Greenhorn and Warm Springs. It is more ex- 
tensively worked and has more paying mines than either of the other sections. 
All the mines from Bellevue to Ketchum, a distance of eighteen miles, may 
justly be assigned to this belt, and the ores are similar in general character- 
istics. 

The ores are cube, leaf and fine grained galena and carbonates, running 
sixty to eighty per cent lead, and are marked by large out- crops of iron, 
quartz and white spar. The best mineral is found in a stratum of limestone, 
though the Star is an exception, its ledge being in limestone and granite. 
The ore does not grade so high as that of the preceding district, but runs 
from $100 to $300 to the ton, and is found in wide veins. The ledges 
take the general direction of northwest and southeast, occasionally cutting 
the formation at right angles, east and west. The ores carry lead in sufficient 
percentage to make their reduction easy in the smelters. 

The Minnie Moore, two miles from Bellevue, shows a vast body of galena 
near the surface, worth $100 per ton, and is believed to be one of the great 
mines of Wood river. From July to November of this year it sold 300 tons 
of ore on the dump for $85 per ton. The vein has been stripped for 500 feet, 
and shows from four to six feet of solid galena. Three tunnels are being driven 
into the hill to strike the vein at depths ranging from 150 to 200 feet. 

Ex-postmaster Moore of Salt Lake City, last season furnished Daniel 
Scribner, a prospector, a few dollars as a " grub stake," and in December 
(1880) the latter found the Minnie Moore. Scribner sold out his half within 
a week for $11,500, and Moore held his interest until August, 1881, when he 
sold to Grayson, the California mining operator, for $50,000. Moore is 
therefore numbered among the hundreds who have already derived a com- 
petence in Wood river from an investment not to exceed a few hundred 
dollars. 

The Overland, Queen of the Hills and Clipper near by, are very prom- 
ising claims. The former has shipped several car loads of ore which has 
returned $120 net per ton. It is developed by a tunnel 100 feet long on a 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 57 

twelve inch vein, and a shaft 100 feet deep. On Star gulch a mile north, 
is .the Star mine, a four-foot vein carrying ore worth $150 to $400 silver 
and seventy per cent lead, which is well developed by several shafts and 
tunnels, and has produced several hundred tons of high-grade ore this season. 

The principal mines about Bullion are the Bullion, Mayflower, Jay Gould, 
Eureka and Idahoan. These are all within a radius of half a mile from 
Bullion. The Idahoan, during the working season, shipped ten tons per day 
of 140-ounce ore, and has an immense deposit in sight. This mine was dis- 
covered by Judge Turner, of Boise City, in June, 1880, and work began upon 
it the following September. Before the close of that year, 142 tons of first- 
-lass ore had been taken out and shipped to the Salt Lake smelters. Since 
that date about 500 tons have been taken out and sent to the same city. 
These shipments of ore netted their owners from $128 to $150 per ton. The 
Idahoan, in addition to meeting all expenses incident to the opening of the 
mine and shipping of ore, has, up to the present fall, paid two dividends to 
its stockholders, one of $13,000 and the other $16,000. About 700 tons of low 
■grade ore is on the dump awaiting smelters or cheaper transportation. 

The Jay Gould, which was recently purchased by Mr. Warren Hussey, a 
banker of Salt Lake, for $30,000, is another famous mine in Bullion. It has 
already shipped 435 tons, and has some ore on the dump. The mine is being 
thoroughly developed, and will shortly be in shape to put from twenty-five 
to fifty tons into the market daily. 

The Mayflower is generally conceded to be the favorite mine in this district 
and in Wood river. It adjoins the Jay Gould, audits ore is of the same rich- 
ness. Though discovered in 1880 it only shipped thirty tons of ore previous to 
May of this year, and in the short time elapsing since the latter date the mine 
has yielded 1,034 tons of ore worth $175 to the ton. 

The Bullion, which, together with the Ophir, is the property of the Wood 
IRiver Gold and Silver Minirg Company, is being rapidly placed in position 
to be throughly worked. Expensive hoisting works have been erected, with 
a capacity for sinking the shaft to a depth of 1,000 feet, and raising ten tons 
•of ore per day. Its product for 1881 is set down at about $100,000. 

The Warm Springs belt embraces many other excellent properties, among 
•them thl Eureka, which was opened in mid-summer of this year, and pro- 
duced ten times its first selling price in sixty days; the West Fork, which 
with several other claims was sold by the discoverers to a Philadelphia com- 
pany for $16,000, and from which one man then extracted 300 tons of ore 
worth $50,000 in 20 days; a Deer Creek group, the Narrow Gauge Numbers 
•One and Two, Bannack, Deer Creek and Keno, which those experienced 
mining operators of Hailey, Messrs. McGregor & Connor, are developing 
into a grand consolidation, showing an abundance of ore which yields $80 to 
$200 silver per ton, and sixty- five per cent lead; the Little Dorrit, whose 
fourte en-inch vein by a score of assays is show T n to be worth over $200 per 
ton; the Montana, whose shipments yield 182 ounces silver per ton; the 
Chloride, Oswego, Rogers and Washington. The mineral belt east of Wood 
river has few T er paying mines than either of the districts just described, and 
the ore is of lower grade. The principal mines east of Wood river are the 
Paymaster group, North Star, Elkhorn and those of Indian and Lake creeks. 



58 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

The North Star has a vein more than fifty feet wide in places, and which i» 
traceable for two miles. The Elkhorn is three miles above the North Star,, 
and yields ore worth $100 to the ton. It was sold a few months after its dis- 
covery for $20,000. 

Galena, the northernmost camp on Wood river proper, is in the midst of 
a section which is being vigorously worked. The Galena district differs 
from the Warm Spring region, which adjoins it, in that the formation changes 
to porphyry and syenite. Work is being done on the Senate, Alturas, High- 
land Chief, Red Cloud, Western Home, Gladiator, Eunice and others. The 
mines all yield smelting ores, and as a smelter is now ready to treat ore at 
Galena it is reasonable to expect that these mines will be placed among the 
steady producers. The Senate group composes the most important lodes so far 
opened. The Red Cloud has an ore body ten feet in thickness and very well 
defined. The vein carries galena and carbonates, with ninety to 280 ounces 
silver to the ton. 

There are several large and important districts flanking those above men- 
tioned on the east and west, all popularly referred to as belonging to the great 
Wood river region. Along the East Fork of Little Wood river, thirty miles 
east of Ketchum, is one of these. The Muldoon mine, owned by J. O. 
Swift & Co., is the great " strike " here. It is from twelve to twenty feet 
wide, and almost a solid mass of galena and carbonates, containing over $100* 
in silver per ton, and seventy per cent lead. The owners were offered 
$50,000 for their find a few weeks after its discovery. On the head of Lost 
river, twenty miles east of Ketchum, a number of important discoveries of 
silver ores have been made. One tremendous fissure vein of one to ten feet 
solid galena, containing $50 to Si 50 silver per ton, has been traced several 
thousand feet. On the west side of Wood river are the Big and Little 
Smoky district. Little Smoky is famous as the home of the Carrie Leonard 
mine, owned by Pinkham, Leonard & Co. It is on a vein from one to five 
feet thick, already traced for over a mile. The Carrie Leonard produces 
heavy galena ores in car-load lots worth from $150 to $400 per ton. At one 
point the vein widened to four feet, averaging a value of over $400 per ton. 

Many other locations have been made in all of the above distrusts, gen- 
erally by poor prospectors. No outside capital worth mentioning has yet 
been invested, and hence it will be seen that these are in truth " poor men's 
mines." I do not know of a claim that has been sunk upon to a depth of 
twenty feet that has not furnished its poor owner with a winter's " grub 
stake." On account of the great average size of these veins they have been 
easily opened, and the production of ore in most cases has been limited only 
to that which has been displaced in sinking shafts or running tunnels. Most 
readers are probably aware that but few mining districts ever claim more 
than two or three leading quartz mines which pay for their development. At 
least 200 are doing that on the Wood river. 

Following is a statement of the production of leading Wood river and 
Sawtooth mines for 1881. At least 1,000 tons more ore would have been 
Shipped but for lack of wagon transportation : 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 59 

Total amount ore on dumps Wood river, and Sawtooth. . . 3,474 tons 

Ore shipped 3,340 tons 

Total production of ore and bullion 7,202 tons 

Bullion produced by Wood river smelters 388 tons 

Average value of same in silver per ton (ounces) 240 

Average value of ore produced in silver per ton (ounces) . 171 

Total value of ore produced in silver 1,154,194 ounces 

Average percentage of lead in ore shipped 73 per cent 

There are four smelters on Wood river — one at Hailey, one at Bellevue,. 
one at Ketchum and one at Galena — having a daily capacity of about 100 tons. 
Several others are to be erected in 1882. 

THE SAWTOOTH MINES. 

The great divide of central Idaho, the Sawtooth range, is at places a net- 
work of mineral veins, some of which with only one year's development have 
shown such rich ore bodies that sales at good figures have already been made,, 
and mills have been purchased to run the product into silver bar,*. The 
Sawtooth mineral belt is about ten miles long and three miles wide, and ad- 
joins the Wood river region on the north. The formation is granite, cut 
here and there by narrow porphyry dikes, and the mineral has thus f a»r been 
found in the shape of well defined fissure veins carrying black sulphurets, 
ruby and antimonial silver, with a small percentage of gold, the ores being 
free milling but requiring roasting. The Vienna mine, owned by Winona 
(Minn.) parties, is one of the first and best discoveries here. Three tunnels of 
from 250 to 400 feet each, and a number of other openings have been made 
upon the vein, and some 000 tons of ore, worth from $100 to $500 per ton, 
have been produced in the course of this simple development work, while- 
two thousand tons equally good are blocked out in the mine. One shipment 
of twenty tons of ore to Salt Lake last fall yielded $400 to the ton, while 
several smaller shipments did considerably better. The vein is two to seven 
feet wide, and there are streaks in it worth $2,000 per ton. 

Near the Vienna is the Mountain King, next to the Custer probably the 
most promising mine in all Idaho. The vein has been located for a mile. It. 
projects above the surface two to seven feet, and is from eight to sixteen 
feet wide, five feet of which is ruby and sulphuret ore, worth $200 to $800 
silver, and $8 to $12 gold per ton. Nearly 800 tons of rich ore are on the 
Mountain King dump, with huudreds of thousands of dollars worth in sight 
in the various openings. About 100 tons shipped to Salt Lake this year 
yielded $240 per ton. Excepting the Custer this is the largest outcrop of 
very high-grade ore I have seen, and its granite walls are so well defined it 
seems almost certain that it will maintain its present proportions and prob- 
ably its richness. The Mountain King is being systematically developed un- 
der the able direction of Chris. Johnson, Esq., superintendent, who is also 
superintendent of the Vienna. A tw T enty-stamp mill will be erected early in 
1882 to work Mountain King ores, when we may safely look for a product 
of from $50,000 to $75,000 per month. The Alturas, Lucre, Justice and 
Wisconsin claims, all believed to be on the Mountain King vein, are being 
vigorously deyeloped, and promise good things for the immediate future. 

The Emma and Solace are two productive claims on a neighboring vein.. 



60 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

The former is developed to a depth of 300 feet by a tunnel and two inclines, 
and has two to three feet of ore worth $100 to .$1,000 per ton. The Solace, 
discovered in July of this year, and sold within sixty days for $40,000, is'a 
four foot vein of sulphurets and antimonial silver, worth from $100 to $2,000 
per ton. A. mill is also to be built at once to work the Solace ores. The 
Nellie Group, near by, consisting of the Nellie, Ciampion, Sawtooth and 
Nellie Extension, all very rich claims, are being vigorously developed, with a 
view to the early erection of a mill. There are from six inches to two feet 
of wonderfully rich chloride ores in these claims. 

The Pilgrim is another claim of high local note. It was so named because 
found by three " pilgrim " boys fresh from the prairies of Nebraska. They 
sold it last season to a San Francisco company for $30,000, having not ex- 
pended probably over $100 upon it. It is being systematically developed 
through a tunnel 600 feet long, and is now held at $500,000. There are eight 
feet of high-grade ore in the bottom of a 100-foot shaft, and the entire vein 
s twelve to twenty feet wide. 

The Columbia, has been pretty well explored during the past summer, several 
shafts and open cuts exhibiting three splendid continuous ore veins one to 
four feet wide each, which yield from $100 to $1,000 per ton. The Beaver, 
a, neighboring claim has tunnels aggregating nearly 500 feet, showing a four- 
foot vein equally as rich as the Columbia. A twenty- stamp mill to work the 
ores of these two mines is nearly ready for the production of silver bars. 
The production for this year aggregates about 400 tons, w T orth $200 to $400 
per ton. 

The Lucky Boy mine is the peer of any of these in richness. The vein is 
from five to seven feet wide. From this hundreds of tons of ore worth from 
$ 100 to $2,000 per ton have been taken. 

I could name many other claims in Sawtooth having veins from three to 
twenty feet wide, and carrying from one to three feet of these very rich ores. 
Only the distance from an ore market has kept such properties in the back- 
ground for even one summer. Next season mills will be constructed and easy 
communication will insure heavy shipments of ore if there is not sufficient 
reducing capacity at home. The thirty or forty claims now fairly opened 
have enough rich ore in sight to keep half a dozen ten-stamp mills running 
three or four years. 

There are many other promising mineral districts in Idaho, most of them 
<liscoveries of t\\3 past two years. Among these are the Blue Wing silver 
district, twenty-five miles east of Challis; the Texas Creek silver district, 
seventy-five miles north w T est of Camas (Utah Northern Branch, U. P. Ry.) ; 
Cariboo gold district, seventy-five miles northeast of Blackfoot; the Weiser 
gold, silver and copper district in western Idaho, along the line of the Union 
Pacific's Oregon Branch; Squaw Creek silver district, forty miles northwest 
of Boise; Middle Salmon district, forty miles west of Bonanza City, and the 
Lava Creek silver district, seventy miles west of Blackfoot. All of these 
have mines productive of high grade ores. 

No one who is at all acquainted with the mineral belts of Idaho doubts 
that many other mines, nov only crudely worked, and many not yet found, 
will equal in richness and extent any of those described in this work. There 



I 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 01 

is a wonderful future in store for the territory as a bullion producer. There 
is an immediately brilliant future for hundreds of mining men, who can take 
a reasonable amount of capital there to develop poorly worked claims, and 
for hundreds of experienced prospectors whose only capital consists of pick,, 
shovel, and a summer's "grub stake," In fact, the names of Idaho's min- 
eral veins is legion, and unnumbered thousands are yet to be discovered. 
The entire region from Snake river to the British possessions, a distance of 
nearly 400 miles, is full of metal-ribbed mountains. The record of the past 
is good, but the promise of the future is glorious. The past has been the 
roughest pioneering; the future will be full of golden fruition. Sufficient 
development has been made to demonstrate the fact that Idaho is the richest 
and most extensive mineral belt ever found, with tens of thousands of square 
miles of the rugged Salmon river, Cceur d' Alene, Wasatch and Bitter Root 
mountain ranges which white man's foot has never trod, yet to be heard 
from. Nature has done as much for this country as for any on earth. It 
contains every element desired to build up several of the richest mining com- 
munities in the world, and has only lacked the present gratifying advance of 
the iron horse. Its climate is mild and conducive to economical mining 
operations the year round. Its smelting facilities of fuel, lime, water, and 
all varieties and grades of ore are unexcelled. 

Following is a statement of gold and silver from Idaho mines, deposited 
at the mints and assay offices, by fiscal years ending June 30, 1880 : 



Gold. 

18G3 $ 1,816 97 

1864 2,306,568 10 

1865.... 4,971,454 75 

1866 ... 3,391,997 48 $ 

1867 2,392,595 77 

1868.... 998,537 00 

1869 595,707 96 

1870 ... 765,756 87 

1871.... 725,937 94 



Silver 




Gold. 




1872... 


891,151 00 




1873 .. 


1,248,262 00 




1874 .. 


1,027,708 69 


38,859 49 


1875 .. 


657,684 27 


60,269 24 


1876 .. 


737,214 12 


7,602 56 


1877... 


1,144,069 69 


6,332 52 


1878... 


858,877 91 


1,922 52 


1879 . . 


811,429 86 


4,856 38 


1880 .. 


510,546 73 



Silver. 

1,838 81 

8,820 1& 

17,323 48. 

8,666 60 

55,371 06 

42,590 71 

80,585 23- 

119,356 81 

102 997 02: 



Totals $24,157,447 00 $727,282 CA>. 

Wells, Fargo & Co. estimate the shipments of gold made privately and 
by banking houses, in addition to the above, at $60,000,000. That firm is 
known to lean considerably to the conservative side, and the best authorities 
in the territory calculate that the total precious metal yield of the territory 
has aggregated the enormous sum of $90,000,000. From bullion shipments 
already made, and from a vast amount of data I have collected from the 
most reliable and intelligent sources, I estimate the output of gold, silver 
and lead for 1881 as follows: 

Quartz and placer mines of Yankee Fork district $ 1,250,000 

Silver mines of Bay Horse and Kinnikinik districts 400,000 

Quartz and placer mines of Boise Basin 1,115,000 

Wood river and Sawtooth silver districts 1,200,000 

Silver city district 300,100 

Atlanta and Rocky Bar quartz and placer mines 450,000 

Snake river placers, and other districts 250,000 



Total in gold, silver and lead for 1881 $4,915,100 



62 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

This of course includes the high-grade shipping or smelting ores mined 
•during the year in Wood river, Sawtooth and other districts for which trans- 
portation to mills and smelters could not be obtained, or which are held 
awaiting the completion of reduction works now being built. The value of 
ore thus mined and yet to be marketed can not vary much from $1,000,000. 

IBON y COPPER AND COAL. 

It is not in the precious metals alone that Idaho rests her claim of being 
first among all mining regions. She has iron varied enough in kind and 
quality and vast enough in quantity for the uses of a great nation. Her cop- 
per ores are scarcely less abundant, and her coal measures, although but 
slightly developed, promise to meet all possible requirements in the near 
future. 

Near Rocky Bar is a seven-foot vein of ore carrying fifty-six per cent pure 
iron. VVithin two miles of Challis is an immense body of micaceous iron, 
yielding fifty to sixty per cent ot that metal. At several points along Wood 
river oxide ores carrying sixty to seventy-five per cent iron are found in inex- 
haustible quantities. Near Baker city, along the western Idaho boundary, 
are mammoth deposits of metallic iron, carrying seventy to ninety per cent 
of that metal. Three miles east of South Mountain, m southwestern Idaho, 
is the great Narragansett iron mine, where a surface of 100 by 600 feet of the 
vein has been stripped, and the limit not reached. A cut into this vein twenty 
feet deep and fifty feet wide, exposes a solid body of magnetic and specular 
ore, which numerous assa}^ prove to contain ninety-five to ninety-eight per 
cent pure iron. This ore is so pure and easily smelted that it has, in its 
natural state, been cast into shoes andjdies for stamp mills at the Silver city 
foundry. A fifteen-foot vein of hematite near by is also very rich in iron, 
and carries $30 per ton in gold. I have noted many other valuable deposits 
of iron in the territory, among these several within a day's ride of Lewiston, 
in north Idaho, containing from fifty Jto seventy- five per cent iron. 

St. Charles mining district, the principal mineral belt along the Oregon 
Branch of the Union Pacific railway, in the extreme eastern edge of Idaho, 
contains copper ore assaying sixty to eighty per cent, and native copper of 
great purity. The copper deposit can be traced thirty-five miles. Galena is 
also abundant, and some assays have shown seventy-eight per cent of lead 
and a small per cent in silver. A number of mines are successfully worked, 
and many locations have been made. Along the southwestern edge of Camas 
prairie, also near the above railway line, is an extensive network of copper 
veins from one to six feet in thickness, their ores containing about forty per 
cent copper. Near Brownlee's Ferry, 120 miles north of Boise city, are 
several large veins running sixty per cent copper. There are many other 
copper deposits, and large quantities of the silver ores of the territory con- 
tain from fifteen to twenty per cent copper. 

Bituminous coal is found in apparently inexhaustible quantities along 
Bear lake, near the southeastern Idaho boundary. It is said to be of a fine 
quality for coking and for furnace use. There are no railroad facilities ex- 
isting to transport it, and it remains undeveloped, but the completion of the 
Union Pacific Company's Oregon Branch in 1882. will render it of immediate 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 63 

value. Coal mines are open at Smith's Fork and on Twin creeks, and the 
famous Mammoth mine shows a vein seventy feet thick of clear coal, and 
w T ith adjacent veins, separated by thin veins of clay, will aggregate 200 feet 
in thickness. These valuable deposits are all near the eastern Idaho line, 
and only await the coming of the railway above noted to make them extremely 
valuable. A good quality of lignite has been found near Boise, bituminous 
at Horseshoe Bend, twenty miles from Boise, also between the Payette and 
Weiser, seventy miles, and at the Big Bend of Snake river, ninety miles 
from Boise. A good blacksmithing coal has also been found on Sucker 
creek, twenty-two miles north of Silver City, and several large deposits near 
Lewiston in northern Idaho. None of these veins are worked to any con- 
siderable extent, because wood for fuel is so plentiful and cheap, but the day is 
fast approaching when a good coal mine will be classed a bonanza in Idaho, 
by virtue of railway extension and the activity in mining and manufacturing 
enterprises. 

AN INEXHAUSTIBLE SALT MINE. 

Among the most important developments in the vast region of eastern 
Idaho now being opened up by the Utah & Northern Branch of the Union 
Pacific railway, are those at the salt springs, on what is known as the Old 
Lander emigrant road, leading from South Pass to Oregon, and about eighty- 
five miles east of Eagle Rock. The road named passes directly along the flat 
below the spring, where, before being concentrated into pipes, the water had 
spread out, and evaporating in the sun formed large masses of salt crystals. 
The salt is made by boiling the water in large galvanized iron pans, into 
which it is led by wooden pipes leading direct from the spring. It is shoveled 
out once in thirty minutes, and after draining twenty- five hours, is thence 
thrown into the drying house, there to remain until sacked and prepared 
for shipping. The most scrupulous cleanliness is observed in every opera- 
tion, and when the immense banks of salt lie piled up in the drying house 
they resemble huge snow-banks more than anything one could imagine. At 
any time a thousand tons of the purest and whitest salt in the world may be 
seen here in these far west "Oneida Salt Works." 

Following is an analysis of the Oneida salt, made by Dr. Piggot, the well 
known analytical chemist of Baltimore. It shows a higher percentage of 
pure salt than the celebrated Onondaga brand, manufactured at Syracuse, 
while neither " Liverpool," " Turk's Island," or " Saginaw" salt approach 
it in purity, or are as white, clear or soluble in liquids. 

Chloride of sodium (pure salt) 07.79 

Sulph. soda 1.54 

Chloride of calcium : 67 

Sulph. magnesia Trace 

Total 100.00 

In 1866 only 15,000 pounds of salt were here manufactured; but the 
demand in Idaho, Utah and Montana has so steadily increased that the pro- 
duct has since averaged about 600,000 per annum, and ran up to 1,500,000 
( pounds in 1880, much of this last year's production having been consumed 
in Montana smelting works. 



64 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

SULPHUR, MICA, MARBLE, ETC. 

There is a mountain of almost pure sulphur — running to eighty-five per 
cent of that useful commodity — at Soda Springs, eastern Idaho. The sul- 
phur has been mined and shipped in a small way for several years, while 
fifty miles of expensive wagon transportation was necessary, and now that a. 
railroad is at hand no doubt the enterprise will be pushed on a large scale. 

Ninety miles northeast of Boise, near Weiser river, are two ledges, eight 
to ten feet wide each, of mica. The mines are being developed, and thou- 
sands of tons of mica are now on their dumps. Clear, merchantable sheets 
four by six inches in size, can be extracted in vast quantities. Deposits of 
mica are also known to exist near Pend d' Oreille lake, and south of Lewis- 
ton in northern Idaho. 

A large deposit of white and variegated marble is found along Clear- 
water river near Lewiston. Idaho abounds in the finest granite and sand- 
stone in the land, white, pink, gray and other shades, easily quarried and 
worked into any desirable shape. In Nez Perce county, northern Idaho, 
there is a quarry of sandstone of superior quality for making grindstones or 
other stones for sharpening edged tools. 



Agricultur: 



1 A HE newcomer who enters Idaho from the east or south, crosses scores 
of miles of territory apparently so barren and so utterly forbidding in 
every way that he must be possessed of a stout heart to be able to reconcile 
himself to rural life in " The Gem of the Mountains." It is indeed hard to 
imagine a more dreary picture in nature than he will here encounter in the 
thousands of square miles of sombre sage brush plain, unless imagination rests 
for a moment upon the parched deserts of Arizona, or the snow and ice brakes 
of the British Possessions, to which dire extremes whole colonies of luckless 
immigrants have in recent years been carried. But here in Idaho he will en- 
counter what is impossible in the other regions named, a practical Eden at 
various stages of his journey. He will find here and there in the midst of 
these plains luxuriant crops, emerald or golden, trees blossom and perfume- 
laden, or bending to earth with their lavish fruitage. Boise City, fairly em- 
bowered in flower gardens and fruit orchards, and thousands of acres of 
land in different parts of the Territory, from which are annually harvested a 
wider range of productions than any commonwealth in America, excepting 
Calfornia, can boast, were a few years ago just such dreary looking wastes 
as are many locations now to which I have already referred as the most fer- 
tile in our great land. 

The valleys and uplands of Idaho, lying at an elevation of less than 5,000 
feet, which can be irrigated (and there are 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 acres of 
such lands) can be made lavishly productive. I have already described the 
soils of these arable lands, and from the climatic facts also given the reader 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 65 

will not require an elaborate argument to be satisfied that all the cereals 
and vegetables whieh can be raised north of the cotton- growing line in the 
Atlantic states flourish in the greatest perfection here, and that apples, pears, 
plums, peaches, grapes, nectarines, apricots, and many of the smaller fruits 
of the finest quality are almost as regularly produced as corn in the Missouri 
bottoms. Even tobacco and cotton have been grown in the lower valleys, 
experiments with the latter this year, especially, having been very satisfactory. 

In the southern half of Idaho irrigation is generally necessary to insure 
the ripening of crops. This the Idaho farmer considers an advantage. He 
is entirely free from solicitude in regard to drouth 01 flood while his grain is 
ripening, and is sure of pleasant weather during harvest time. Irrigation 
enables him to keep his pastures green in autumn, or start them early in 
the spring; it enables him to produce heavier crops and to secure a larger 
growth of fruit trees, shrubbery, etc., in one season than can be obtained by 
any unaided process in nature. The same stream that beautifies and fertilizes 
his soil, can be led by his door and be made to furnish power for his churn, 
grindstone, saw, fanning-mill, etc. Better than all these, it carries to his 
land just such qualities of mineral and gaseous matter as is needed to keep 
it productive for years. In New Mexico lands have been regularly cultivated 
in this way, without any other fertilizer, for 200 years; in the valley of the 
Nile it has been the principal fertilizer on lands cultivated continuously for 
over three thousand years. The expense of irrigating Idaho lands each sea- 
son ranges from twenty- five to seventy- five cents per acre. To get out the 
ditches originally and clear the sage brush from Idaho farms is a much less 
expense than to improve and cultivate land in the east possessing a light 
growth of timber. Streams possessing an abundance of water the year 
round, and having a very rapid descent, are almost everywhere available. 

However, the new-comer who prefers such conditions as surrounded him 
in the east will in northern Idaho find vast areas of unclaimed territory 
where the rainfall is ample to insure the grow 7 th of all crops. 

Wheat yields an average of thirty bushels per acre; oats, fifty-five bush- 
els; barley, forty-five bushels, and other cereals, save corn, in proportion. 
Very little corn is produced on account of the cool nights in summer. Farm- 
ers who take special pains to secure Ihe best results from given areas, often 
produce fifty bushels of wheat per acre, seventy of oats and sixty of barley, 
and I have noted exceptional yields far in excess of these figures. There has 
been no general failure of crops in the Boise valley in the past seventeen years. 

Flax is an important production of Idaho. Mr. B. H. Beaman, in Genes- 
see Valley, near Lewiston, tells me he raises as high as twenty- four bushels 
per acre in forty-acre patches. He sells the seed at $1 per bushel. This 
gentleman has produced 1,000 bushels of wheat on eleven acres of ground, 
and often harvests 100 bushels of oats per acre. A neighbor has 200 acres in 
flax, and this season harvested forty- five bushels of wheat and sixty-five of 
oats per acre. 

The natural grasses, as we have already mentioned, abound both on 

mountain side and in valley; hence but little attention has been paid to the 

cultivated varieties. But timothy, alfalfa and^clover, wherever sown, have 

proved to be abundant and hardy in growth; alfalfa, especially, yielding 

5 



66 IDAHO TEKRITOKV. 

three and lour crops of from one to three tons each in one season. Timothy 
and alsike clover have been grown together, producing grass knee high, and 
making splendid food for horses and cattle. 

Potatoes yield abundantly, averaging over two hundred bushels to the 
acre, equal to the finest grown in Utah, varying in price from $2 to $5 per 100 
pounds, according to the season. When they are well watered they are of 
large size, white, mealy and delicious. All kinds of garden vegetables, such 
as beets, peas, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, rhubarb, onions, etc., are suc- 
cessfully and profitably cultivated, the crop is enormous, the quality good, 
and the market for all that is not needed at home is sure and at paying 
prices. Nearly every farmer has his garden well-stocked with all kinds of 
vegetables. Cabbages average twelve pounds to the nead; and sweet corn, 
sorghum, lettuce, melons, radishes, e^g-plant, etc., are noticeably thrifty and 
superior. The market is a consideration not to be overlooked by intending 
settlers, since abundant crops would be of little value if no market at remu- 
nerative rates was to be had close at home or within easy reach by rail. 

The following is an official resume of agricultural productions to the acre, 
in bushels, of the States of the Rocky Mountain region and of the east, in 
comparison with Idaho: 

Wheat. Rye. Oats. Barley. Potatoes. Corn. 

Idaho 30 25 55 40 250 35 

Nevada 12 . . 31 . . 95 30 

California ; 17 15 30 23 114 34 

Oregon 21 14 31 23 95 33 

Eastern States 13 15 31 23 G9 26* 

Will it pay to farm in Idaho, and if so, how much? This questieu has 
baen asked elsewhere as well as here, and has been successfully answered. 
" What man has done, man can do, " is a motto familiar to many. Here is 
the result of one farmer's operations: 

Interest on 160 acres land, at $10 per acre, at 10 per cent $ 1C0 00 

Water Right, $800. Interest on same to 00 

Plowing, at $1.25 per acre 200 00 

Harrowing, 50 cents per acre 80 00 

Seed wheat 150 00 

Labor of irrigation 160 00 

Labor — harvesting and stacking 400 00 

Labor— threshing, 4,800 bushels 384 00 

Marketing 150 00 

Total expense $1,764 00 

Yield, 30 bushels per acre, 4,800 bushels, at $1 per bushel $4,800 00 

Net profit, exclusive of labor, over all expenses $3,036 00 

As government land can be had free on homestead, or as low as $1.25 per 
aore on pre-emption claims, the $160 interest money can often be carried to 
profit account, showing a still larger return. In sections of Northern Idaho, 
where irrigation is not absolutely required, there is the interest on the water 
right, and the cost of irrigation to be also added. This is for about eight 
months labor in each year. Will it pay? I rather think it will. Wheat is 
seldom lower than $1 per bushel; often it is higher. 

Let me give another estimate, direct from a farmer who bases his figures 
on his own experience. Can anything more conclusively answer the ques- 



68 



IDAHO TERRITORY, 



tion, even with wheat as low as sixty cents a bushel, will farming pay id 
Idaho? 



Seed $ 100 

Plowing 400 

Harrowing 80 

Drilling G4. 

Irrigating 1G0 



Harvesting and stacking 3GO 

Threshing. 200 



Total ... $1,424 



Yield, at 25 bushels per acre, 240,000 lbs at lc $2,400 00 

Profit $ 97G 00 

The above is a very low estimate of yield and of price. At thirty bushels 
per acre, selling at $1 per bushel, we would have double the amount of re- 
ceipts, mtking the profit $3,376. These estimates are for wheat only. But 
in Idaho immense crops of oats, barley, amber cane, potatoes, beets, onions 
and all kinds of vegetables and fruits can be grown as easily as wheat, and 
to as great or greater great profit. 

The following are average prices paid the year round for farm products 
at Boise City. Most of the items command 25 to 50 per cent more in the vari- 
ous mining camps of the Territory. The great activity in mining and rail- 
road building assure as high, if not higher, prices for years to come : 



Dressed hogs, per cwt., $8 to $10. 
Chickens, per doz., $4 to $5. 
Turkeys, each, $1.50 to $2.50. 
Ducks, each, 50 cts. to 75 cts. 
Fresh fish, per lb., 10 to 20 cts. 
Hay, per (on, $20 to $25. 
Wood, per cord, $7 to $10. 
Onions, per lb., 2 cts. 
Rutabagas, per lb., \% cts. 
Fresh trout, per lb., 40 to 50 cts. 
Mutton, per lb., dressed, 7 to 9 
Beef, per lb., dressed, 4 to 5 cts 
Veal, per lb., dressed, G to 7 cts 



cts. 



Flour, choice, per barrel, $5.50. 
Wheat, per cwt., $1.50. 
Oats, per cwt., $1.50. 
Barley, per cwt., $1.25. 
Bran and shorts, per cwt., $1.00. 
Corn meal, per lb., 3 cts. 
Peas, per cwt., $1.25. 
Chopped feed, per cwt., $1.75. 
Potatoes, per cwt., $1.50. 
Cabbage, per lb., 2 cts. 
Butter, per lb., 30 to 50 cts. 
Cheese, per lb., 25 to 30 cts. 
Eggs, per doz., 25 to 75 cts. 

It is not unusual for immigrants to locate on wild land in Idaho valleys 
adjacent to mining regions, put up comfortable houses, good fences, etc., 
and pay for all such improvements with the first year's crop of potatoes or 
other vegetables taken from only a small portion of their farms. The facts- 
that Idaho farmers were, as a rule, very poor when they embarked in 
business a few years ago, and that they are now generally w T ell off and have 
fine buildings and the best implements, with often large herds of stock, are 
proof that this is a lucrative pursuit. We have never heard of the mort- 
gaging of an Idaho farm. 

THE VALLEYS OF IDAHO. 

The valleys of Idaho are all narrow; seldom being more than ten miles 
wide, while their length, in some cases, being limited to one mile, will fre- 
quently extend to fifty. The valleys, however, are of very rich soil, and the 
flat bottom lands, or the gently rising plateaux that lie along the banks are 
able to produce most abundantly. Following is a list of the most prominent 
of these valleys, with their arable dimensions estimated by the most com- 
petent authorities. Idaho's valleys, it should be remembered, contain 
10,000,000 acres of arable land, only one-twentieth occupied. 



IDAHO TERRITORY. t>9 

Name and location of valley. Length. Breadth. 

•South Fork of Snake river, eastern Idaho 30 miles 2 to 4 miles 

Salt river valley, eastern Idaho 20 " 1 to 2 " 

Bear river valley, eastern Idaho 40 " 3 to 5 " 

Snake valley, North Fork, eastern Idaho 60 " 2 to 10 " 

Blackf oot valley, eastern Idaho 20 " 2 to 5 " 

Round valley, eastern Idaho 30 " 8 to 12 " 

Wood river valley, central Idaho 50 " 1 to 2 " 

Camas prairie, central Idaho 80 " 18 to 25 " 

Boise valley, western Idaho 60 " 2 to 6 " 

Payette valley, western Idaho 75 " 2 to 15 " 

Weiser valley, western Idaho 40 " 2 to 5 " 

Lemhi valley, northeastern Idaho 70 " 3 to 6 il 

Pah-Simari valley, northeastern Idaho 25 " 1 to 5 " 

Northern Camas prairie, North Idaho 30 " 20 to 25 " 

Potlach valley, North Idaho 25 " 10 to 15 " 

Palouse valley, North Idaho 20 " 5 to 10 " 

St. Joseph valley, North Idaho 15 " 5 to 10 " 

The valleys mentioned above are not all that are suitable for settlement. 
I could name over a score or more in addition, where the opportunities are 
fully as advantageous as in these. Beautiful little vales, cosy parks hidden 
among the hills, these are innumerable; while sheep ranches, cattle ranges, 
dairy farms, poultry ranches and apiaries could be established in a thousand 
localities, and will be as soon as the advantages that await the settlers in 
Idaho are more fully known. 

In the northern portion of the territory there are over a million acres of 
and open to settlement under the homestead and pre-emption laws, all of 
which has been surveyed. Not more than three thousand filings have thus 
far been made, so that Uncle Sam has a farm of 160 acres for 70,000 home- 
born or adopted sons to give away north of the Salmon river in Idaho. 

Homestead and pre-emption laws apply to government lands here as else- 
where. The homestead law grants settlers 160 acres, on condition of con- 
tinued residence for five years, and the payment of land-office fees, which 
altogether do not exceed $18. Pre-emption laws grant settlers 160 acres at 
$1.25 per acre, on condition of a continued residence and improvement for 
■one year. The timber culture act permits a citizen to enter 160 acres on con- 
dition that one-fourth of the area shall be planted to trees, cultivated and 
protected for eight years. Under the operation of these lavvs, any settler 
can become possessed of from 240 to 320 acres of land at a trifling cost. 

The desert land act applies especially to regions like southern Idaho, and 
permits any settler to take up 640 acrfs of land which could not be cultivated 
without artificial moisture. A cash payment of twenty-five cents per 
acre is required at the time of entry; irrigating ditches must be constructed 
to cover such tracts within three jears, and at any time during that period 
the claimant can make his title good by paying $1 additional per acre, and 
making proof that the land Ins been reclaimed by irrigation. Improved 
farms in the best settled valleys often sell quite cheaply — at from $12 to $15 
per acre — for the very evident reason that there are thousands of locations 
open to homestead or pre-emption where the owners can make the same im- 
provements for that amount of money or less. The abundance of land that 
can be had for the occupancy under the laws of the land is so great that no 



70 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



man, however poor lie may be, if he have health and a spirit of enterprise^, 
but can come in and possess himself of enough goodly land on which to 
found a home, without money and without price. Pure air, abundant water, 
a climate suited to the production of all the fruits, vegetables and cereals 
known to the temperate zone will surely be soon appreciated, and this- 
favored territory be the point to which the expectant eyes of thousands turn. 

The following letter addressed to me August 9, 1881, by Judge John B. 
Miller, KegisterU. S. Land Office, Boise City, in reply to a series of ques- 
tions, truthfully covers many important points to be considered by the in- 
tending settler: 

" Referring to your letter of the 2d inst., making inquiry in relation to the 
climate, amount of arable land, the prospects of new settlers, etc., I will 
state, that, as you are perhaps aware, I have resided the greater portion 
of my life in Iowa, but have been residing here for three years past and am 
pretty well acquainted with all portions of the territory, but more particularly 
with the Boise City land district. The climate here is line in summer; while it 
is quite warm in the sun, yet in the shade it is always cool, and at night in the 
warmest weather you will need a blanket over you when sleeping. The 
summers here certainly remind me of my experience in California in 1850.. 
There we could work all day in the hottest sun without feeling oppressed by 
the heat. I do not recall any day that I have felt uncomfortable here. The 
fact is you can endure more here than you could in a more level country, the 
air being more exhilarating. There is a buoyancy in the step of the people pe- 
culiar to those residing in a mountainous region. While the summers are 
cool and pleasant, the winters are delightful; perhaps not one-half of the 
people in the Territory have overcoats, and of the half who have, not more 
than one in ten use them except when riding. As a result of the mildness 
oi the winters, the dwelling-houses as a rule, have thin walls, and people 
live comfortably in houses which would be untenantable in an Iowa winter. 
In speaking of the mild winters I refer only to the valleys; in the high moun- 
tains the weather is cold and the snow falls to a great depth. 

" I would estimate the tillable land at about one acre in tweuty, the bal- 
ance consisting of mountains and their foot-hills which cannot be reached by 
irrigating ditches. None of the valleys are wide, and a large portion of them 
have to be irrigated in order to raise crops. However, irrigating is not near 
so expensive or troublesome as I had supposed before I came here, and with 
the main ditches once made, the farmer has but little trouble and can control 
the flow of water as he pleases; and with an absolute immunity from rain in 
the summer, he can count with a reasonable certainty on a pleasant time for 
harvest and the number of bushels he will raise. 

" The crops generally raised are wheat, oats and barley, and all the vege- 
tables common in Iowa and Illinois. Owing to the cool nights in summer but 
little corn is raised. All kinds of fruit trees and shrubbery grow finely here ; 
the finest varieties of rose bushes, which can only be raised in Iowa with ex- 
treme care, live through the winter without any protection. While fruit is 
not a certain crop, owing to the mildness of the winters which prevents the 
ground from freezing to any depth and retarding the too early blossoming of 
the trees, which sometimes results in the fruit being killed by frost, yet the 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 7t 

varieties grown here are greater than any portion of the United States if we 
except California ; frequently in the same garden you will see trees loaded 
down with apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums and prunes. 
The fruit yield of last year was simply enormous, while the crop of this year 
is good. I fully realize the difficulty of explaining the climate so that it will 
be understood by an Iowa man. In midwinters we may have one day a snow 
from five to eight inches deep and will wonder how on earth the cattle, sheep 
and horses are to live out on the range without feed, when in perhaps 
twenty-four or forty-eight hours we feel the " chinook" (coast wind) com- 
mencing to blow, soft like an evening breeze in summer, but steady, and in a 
short time the snow will disappear and the ground become completely dry/ As 
you are perhaps aware, all kinds of stock are allowed to run out on the range 
in winter without feed, and as a rule come out fat in the spring. You can per- 
haps get a more correct idea of the mild character of the winters here when 
I tell you that birds which are usually migratory remain here summer and 
winter. The wild geese breed and remain here at all seasons. 

"A man coming here from Iowa would at first dislike the country, and if pro- 
fane, would curse the fates or more likely the fellow who tempted him to 
come. If in summer the roads will be deep with dust, the valleys will appear 
more narrow than they really are, and when not irrigated the grass will appear 
like dry hay, while for miles sometimes he will see nothing but sage brush and 
jack rabbits; but take out irrigating ditches and cover the sage plains with 
water and the sage will disappear and the land which before appeared worth- 
less will produce upon an average twice as much wheat to the acre as can be 
raised on the best Iowa lands, while the farmer and stock raiser have the 
endless mountain range free of taxes to raise their stock on. From the very 
nature of the country, there will always be comparatively few towns in Idaho. 
The real business will be farming, stock-raising and mining. While fortunes 
will be made for perhaps ages to come at the last named business, stock- 
raising and farming will be the more certain investments. Stock-raising must 
always be good, for as I said before, it costs nothing to raise stock, and farm- 
ing will always pay well as the mines will consume all that can be raised in 
the valleys, and the produce will command higher rates than can be obtained 
in the States. 

"I could pick out here and there, all over the Territory, valleys that whole 
neighborhoods from the States could move into and find homes, which in a 
short time they would not exchange for their old ones. But I would not dare 
to do it, because every thing here is so different from what they have been used 
to that for a few months after their arrival, they would lie aAvake nights 
on purpose to hate me for deceiving them, as they would at first suppose I 
had. There is one thing that would startle a new-comer, the meats which he 
would find on his table in winter would be fat and juicy, superior to the 
famous steaks of the Palmer and Grand Pacific, and he would be informed 
that they were cut from cattle killed off of the range; while if he would go 
and inspect the range from which they were taken he would see nothing that 
he would deem it possible for cattle to live on, and if he would turn a cow 
fresh from the States on the same range and tell her that she must care for 
herself, she would commit suicide at the very thought, and her owner would 
not blame her. 



7*2 IDAHO JKKKITOKY. 

"It is hard to tell which is the more profitable here, raising cattle or 
horses, as I find a wide difference of opinion on the subject; it certainly takes 
less capital to start in the cattle business; but with capital to start on, I am 
inclined to believe raising horses and mules is the most remunerative. 

"There are not many sheep raised here, but the business is a good one. 
Some time since I had a conversation with a friend in relation to his experi- 
ence in sheep-raising, and learned the following facts : 

In May, 1877, he bought 404 ewes and 123 weathers, 527 at $3.00 $1,581 

In 1878 he sold 200 at $3.00 000 

In 1871) he sold 200 at $3.00 (J00 

In 1880 he sold 200 at $2.50 500 

When talking with me he had 2,300 for which he had been offered. $2. 00. $4, (100 

Total $0,300 

Deduct cost of flock 1,581 

Profit $4,710 

" During the time he had not purchased any sheep, and was unable to tell 
the amount of wool he had sold, but it is fair to presume that the amount 
received for the sale of wool would more than pay for the labor of looking 
after his flock, and the small amount expended in buying what hay was fed 

to them. 

" I have said nothing about the game to be found in the Territory, and as 
my letter is already too long, I will only say that the different varieties sup- 
plied by the proprietors of the Grand Pacific Hotel to their patrons at their 
world renowned annual game dinners could be duplicated here by a couple. 
of hunters in a few days time." 



Fruit Culture. 

IDAHO valleys cannot be excelled by any region east of California for 
the production of fruit. Apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, apricots, 
plums, prunes, grapes and all the small fruits are produced in the greatest 
abundance, and of a quality unsurpassed. The sage brush lands, naturally 
the very emblem of sterility and desolation, are in a few years turned into 
the finest fruit farms, with less trouble than w r ould attend a similar transfor- 
mation on the wild prairies of Iowa or Nebraska. A prominent fruit grower 
estimates that 20,000 large fruit trees have been set out annually for the past 
five years in the valleys surrounding Boise. Several of the orchards in this 
locality produce from 25,000 to 40,000 bushels of fruit each annually, there 
having been but one failure in the crop for ten years. Gen. L. F. Cartee, 
ex-Surveyor-General of Idaho, has forty varieties of grapes in his vineyard, 
hone of which have ever failed to bear a full crop, save the Catawba. John 
Krall, in the suburbs of Boise, has 125 acres in fruits (20,000 trees), em- 
bracing all the varieties known in this latitude. His production last season 
was 500,000 pounds. He finds no fruit insects yet, and pears are never 
troubled with blight or other diseases. His market is mainly in the mining 



IDAHO TKRRFTORY, 73 

-camps, and his fruit commands from five to twelve cents per pound. Thos. 
Davis, also near Boise, has a seventy-five-acre orchard (10,000 trees). His 
orchard has failed to produce but once in the last ten years, and his last sea- 
son's crop of 40,000 bushels of large fruits and 5C0 bushels of berries, must 
have returned him a snug little fortune alone. His orchard is seventeen 
years old, and not a tree in it looks like decaying. He irrigated the first 
four or rive years, but has not found it necessary since. Mr. Davis has ex- 
tensive fruit drying apparatus, and a cider and vinegar factory, in which he 
works up vast quantities of fruit annually. Indeed, fruit drying and the 
manufacture of cider is a prominent and very profitable industry. One firm 
dries from 30,000 to 40,000 pounds of fruit annually, and the interest bids 
fair to grow until at least the demand of Idaho and adjacent territory is sup- 
plied. 

The fourth year's growth of apple trees in Boise Valley has yielded 200 
pounds; of cherries, seventy-five pounds; of peaches, 150 pounds; of pears, 
130 pounds; of plums, 150 pounds; while small fruits, such as strawberries, 
currants, gooseberries, blackberries and raspberries are 'very prolific. The 
growth of wood made by fruit trees, and the quantity of fruit often found 
loading the branches is almost incredible. John Lamb, in Boise City, has 
black locust trees on which I was shown limbs that had grown from twelve 
to fifteen feet in one season, and plum, peach and apple trees two years from 
the graft full of fruit. In the yard of Gov. Neil, at Boise, I counted 140 
nearly ripe green gage plums on a branch seventeen inches long, the plums 
averaging one and one half inches in diameter. 

There is a grand future in store for the Idaho fruit-grower. Montana to 
the north, Wyoming on the east and Nevada to the south, produce practically 
no fruit. With her railroads soon reaching the remotest corners of these 
territories, and with a vast consumption at home, Idaho is assured the best 
fruit markets in the land. Fruit can be produced in all her lower valleys, and 
.short-sighted is the settler who does not take advantage of the above facts. 



Stockraising. 

THE natural and long-continued dryness of the atmosphere— summer and 
winter — the inexhaustible and wonderfully nutritious grasses, which 
cure as they grow, making them as sustenance for animals almost equal to the 
feeding of hay and grain; the in frequency of snow or other storms during the 
year, the warm breezes from the Pacific; the ability of stock to live without 
shelter and take care of themselves, prove Idaho to be as natural a home for 
horses and cattle as for the buffalo, which were wont to thrive here and 
multiply into immense herds. 

Cattle, sheep and horses require but little prepared feed, and rarely shel- 
ter, on any of the great natural pasture fields of Idaho. There are 25,000,- 
000 acres of grazing lands in the Territory, a large proportion of which will 
afford splendid feed the year round. About 30,000 cattle, worth $750,000, 
were marketed from Idaho ranges during the summer of 1880, and as the 



74 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



interest is only in its infancy, this income is merely an index of what it will 
be in the near future. Millions of acres of bunch- grass lands remain unoc- 
cupied. The profits in either wool or cattle growing are placed at thirty- 
three and one-third per cent per annum on all capital invested. The beef, 
mutton and wool produced are of the best quality. 

Thousands of oxen and other animals, used in freighting during the spring 
and summer, get as feed nothing but these grasses, they being allowed to 
feed only at night, and upon them they are expected to live and do the sea- 
son's work, at the close of which they are turned out on the plains to winter, 
where they take on fat, preparatory to the commencement of the spring's 
work. The profits of raising stock in this region may well be imagined, 
when the cost, including taxes, of raising a full grown steer worth $30 is no 
more than $3, and the cost of producing a good American horse worth $100 
is not more than $5. 

A 1 most without exception those who have engaged in stock-raising in 
Idaho have either become rich or are in a fair way to do so quickly. I 
am well acquainted with a prominent stockgrower in Lemhi Valley who 
invested $11,000 in cattle in 1870. A year or two latter he added $9,000 to. 
his investment, mainly buying cows at the then high price of $ tO per head. 
Up to the close of 1880 he had sold enough of the increase to get back the 
$20,000 invested, as well as to pay all the expense of carrying on his business 
for the ten years, and he has over $100,000 worth of cattle left. His loss 
last year was only one per cent, and it has averaged less than three per cent, 
for years at a stretch. Lorenzo Falls, in Pah-Simari Valley, has been in the 
business twelve years and says he does not think he has lost an animal on 
account of bad weather or lack of natural feed in all that time. He now 
owns 700 head. E. R. Hawley, who has 2,000 head of cattle ranging in 
Salmon and Lemhi valleys, has had no loss to exceed two or three per cent. 
Some 25,000 head, feeding in eastern Idaho, never see shelter or prepared 
food and are doing well. 

In Owyhee and Ada counties, Western Idaho, and all along the Snake for 
4:00 miles, as well as in Northern Idaho, are vast and only partially occupied 
cattle ranges, where the fortunate few who are established, are on a sure 
and short road to fortune. The largest herds run up to 5,000, while probably 
two-thirds of all the cattle in the territory are divided up into herds not ex- 
ceeding 500 head. 

The cost of keeping cattle on the range varies from fifty cents to $1 per 
head, according to the size of the herd. In some of the higher valleys 
winter feeding is followed to a slight extent, which of course increases the ex- 
pense. Beef steers sell on the range at $21 to $24; stock cattle $12; two- 
year olds, $14; three-year-olds, $17; yearlings, $8. 

The country has been so generally given over to cattle that wool-growing 
receives but little attention, although the climate and grasses are favorable 
to the production of the best mutton and finest grades of wool. Owyhee 
county probably contains the largest flocks, there being some 40,000 head in 
that county alone. There is but little winter feeding and the wool clip is 
supposed to pay all expenses, leaving the increase clear profit. Robert 
Noble, in the county named, was nine years ago working for $30 per month. 



IDAHO TERRITORY, 75 

He invested a few years wages in sheep and is now accounted worth $30,000 
to $40,000. 

Idaho contains about 75,000 sheep, 200,000 cattle and a few thousand 
horses — a mere fraction of the millions of head her vast ranges should sus- 
tain. There is an opening here for the investment of capital more seductive 
to the thoughtful mind than that presented by even Idaho's bonanzas of gold 
and silver. 

Dairying is becoming an important industry. With such an equable tem- 
perature, abundance of the best grasses, and clear mountain streams in 
various sections, Idaho should supply the butter and cheese for several 
neighboring territories, instead of importing as is now the case. Several 
dairymen in Boise and Lemhi valleys contract their butter the year round at 
the uniform price of fifty cents per pound. Dairy cows can be purchased at 
$25 and $30 per head. 



A Citizen's Letter. 

[Letter of Hon. Geo. L. Slump, Salmon City. Idaho. July 20, L881, to the author.] 

" Referring to your letter of the 11th inst., asking for my views as to the 
future of Idaho Territory, and particularly as to that portion comprising the 
counties of Lemhi and Custer, I will say in reply that, in my opinion no 
other Territory has as bright prospects for its future, or can offer as great 
encouragement to the farmer, home-seeker, prospector or capitalist. Being 
one of the pioneers of eastern Idaho, and having a peculiar interest in the 
prosperity of the Territory, I have watched its growth and development with 
more than usual care and interest, particularly so in the counties of Lemhi 
and Custer, comprising all the water-shed of the Salmon river above and 
including the middle fork of the Salmon. I will anticipate a question that 
will be asked you quite often. ' If Idaho presents such promising induce- 
ments, why has her advancement not been more rapid ? ' This can be easily 
explained. Idaho has, until recently, been isolated from railroad communi- 
cation, was only accessible by long and tiresome journeys by team or stage 
coach, while all around us were wide and open fields, easy of access, aided 
by railroads and immigration societies, inviting the capitalist, home-seeker and 
prospector. Idaho had no such advantages, and it was only the most ven- 
turesome and daring that were willing to leave civilization so far behind. 

"The attention of the writer was first directed to Idaho in the summer of 
18GG, by a party of prospectors who had been on the Salmon river near where 
Salmon City now stands, and who exhibited several hundred dollars in gold 
dust, taken from bars on Salmon river and gulches tributary thereto. I soon 
after visited this section in person, and being fully convinced from my own 
observation, that Idaho would some day be one of the largest gold and silver 
producing fields in the world, concluded to make it my home. In the follow- 
ing spring, 1807, I returned to Idaho, and with the assistance of a few 
others laid out the town of Salmon City. During the season of 1867 about 
$500,000 was taken from the placer-mines on Salmon river and tributaries,. 



76 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

For several years thereafter these mines produced uniformly about the 
same amount, some gulches were worked out and new ones discovered up 
to 1873, when the yield of the placers became less on account of some of the 
ground being shallow and easily exhausted, and on account of companies 
buying large tracts of ground for the purpose of putting; in bed-rock flumes. 
All the old camps in this way fell into the hands of large companies, all of 
whom are now working the ground over a second time, and making from $8 
to $25 a day to each man employed. Some of the companies have ground 
enough to keep them employed for twenty-five years. Placer-mining on Sal- 
mon river has been very satisfactory, the mines always paying good wages, 
and in many instances parties have left the country with 'money enough to 
live at ease the balance of their lives. As the placer ground began to fall 
into the hands of large operators, miners began to turn their attention to 
prospecting for gold and silver bearing quartz mines, a branch of mining en- 
tirely neglected up to this time, 1873. Rich quartz was known to exist in 
the country; rich float being frequently picked up in the gulches, ravines and 
on the mountain sides. Many valuable and rich discoveries were soon made, 
but the distance from railroad was so great, and supplies of all kinds neces- 
sarily high, and many of these locations had to be abandoned. In those days 
it cost a small fortune to get machinery into the country. Ore had to be worth 
at least $200 per ton, to bear transportation to where it could be worked or 
sold. A few, however, of the more resolute and determined built arastras, 
and by that crude process made good wages, and were enabled to hold and 
develop their mines. 

"With the completion of the Utah & Northern railroad through eastern 
Idaho, making transportation and supplies cheaper, a new era in quartz min- 
ing was begun, and there are now scores of paying quartz mines being worked 
in Lemhi and Custer counties alone, with a daily yield of about $10,000. 
These mines are both gold and silver and pay from $1,500 to $3,000 to the 
ton. The mines now being worked can be made to produce more than four 
times their present product. Many of the richest mines discovered in this 
section are held and owned by the discoverers, who are not able to put ma- 
chinery on them. These mines must ultimately fall into the hands of capital- 
ists, which will again add greatly to the product of the country. This class 
of mining in Idaho is yet in its infancy, as not one-fourth of the Salmon River 
mountains have been prospected; almost every day brings reports of new and 
rich discoveries being made. I am familiar with the greater part of the west, 
and know of no held so inviting and promising for a speedy fortune to the 
industrious prospector, as is now open in Idaho. All prospectors are not 
successful, for this reason: Some are indolent and spend the most of their 
time lounging about the small towns, waiting for the more enterprising and 
industrious to make a discovery, w T hen tney expect to drop in and secure a 
claim ; others go out, find a pleasant and shady camp by a mountain stream, 
walk over the ground for a mile or two around camp, prospect the adjacent 
mountain sides with the eye, and if they do not see a vein or lode standing 
up in open sight, will say, there is nothing here. They will then fish, (moun- 
tain streams are full of trout) and lounge about camp until their supplies are 
about exhausted, return to some camp or village and report that they have 



IDAHO TERRITORY. ( < 

prospected such a range of mountains thoroughly, when the fact is, they have 
done no prospecting at all. The prize or fortune is left for the prospector who 
will penetrate the mountains to some favorable locality, and will then climb 
to the top of the loftiest and most rugged mountain, and when indications are 
favorable, will dig and work for weeks until he succeeds in finding the hidden 
treasure. Idaho has great wealth in mines, and will at no distant day, as her 
name suggests, be the gem of the gold and silver producing States and Ter- 
ritories. 

"It is not alone in gold and silver that Idaho possesses great wealth; her 
rich and fertile valleys are not excelled in any State or Territory, and open an 
inviting field to the farmer and home-seeker. The Lemhi is the principal 
valley in Lemhi and Custer counties, all kinds of grain and vegetables are 
raised in this valley in abundance; twenty-five to forty bushels of wheat, fifty 
to 100 bushels of oats, and 15) to 350 bushels of potatoes are raised to the 
acre; all other kinds of grain and vegetables do quite as well. The farmer 
finds a ready sale at remunerative prices for all his wheat at the Salmon City 
Mill, situated near the confluence of the Salmon and Lemhi rivers, and a 
good market for his oats and vegetables in the neighboring mining camps. 

" The dairyman also finds a ready market for his butter and cheese. The 
butter made by the Lemhi dairymen is unexcelled in the United States, and 
finds a ready market at forty to fifty cents a pound; one business house in 
Salmon City has a standing offer of forty cents for all the butter made by the 
Lemhi dairies. The Lemhi valley is seventy-five miles long, the rolling foot- 
hills of which are covered with a rich growth of bunch grass, producing an 
abundance of rich and nutritious milk. 

"The stock grower is also rewarded with a handsome income from his 
herds of cattle, sheep and horses. Cattle and horses winter in Idaho with- 
out hay or grain, subsisting and keeping in good condition upon bunch grass, 
sweet sage and other nutritious feed; a ready market at good prices is found 
in the mining camps for most of the beef produced, the surplus is shipped 
to Chicago and other eastern markets. The shipment can be made profitable 
on account of reduced rates given by the Union Pacific railway from points 
on its Utah & Northern branch. From the writer's personal experi- 
ence in cattle raising, he can verify the statement that it can be conducted 
with large profit. Like all other kinds of business, a few have been disap- 
pointed in not realizing their expectations. The cause is easily traced to the 
fact that their stock was permitted to run at will, many of the increase went 
unbranded, and much of the old stock wandered off to neighboring ranges, 
and in the fall of the year no care was taken to place the stock on a good 
winter range. Those having taken care of their stock have in all cases done 
well, and have made more money than could have been realized from the 
same amount of capital invested in any other legitimate enterprise." 



Miscellaneous. 



ATTRACTIONS FOR TOURISTS. 

Tourists will find much to interest tbem in Idaho. Tlaeid valleys basking in the sunshine, 
with gigantic snow-clad mountains towering in the background; bold, dashing rivers, with 
Avaterf alls 20 ) feet high — among these the great Shoshone, or Snake river, aptly called the 
"Western Niagara;' 1 lakes and streams amid the mountain tops, with myriads of trout and 
other fish disporting in their transparent depths, or waterfowl covering their placid surfaces; 
and surrounding forests inhabited by the elk, deer, mountain sheep, goat and bear— are all 
here. Of the fur-bearing animals may be mentioned the wolf, red fox, silver-gray fox, bea- 
ver, mink, martin and the musk rat as being numerous. In the romantic Payette lakes, near 
Boise, and in Lake Tahoma, near Sawtooth City, are found a rare species of fish called "red 
fish. 11 Their flesh is beautifully red; they weigh as high as eight and ten pounds each, and 
are not only very "gamey, 11 but delicious eating. Only three other lakes in the world are 
known to contain this variety offish. 

Numerous hot and cold mineral springs vie with the delights of the Idaho climate for the 
attention of the he ilth-seeker. They are of widely different temperatures; from almost ice 
cold to boiling heat, ami hold in solution many different kinds of nature 1 s own medicine "for 
the healing of the nations.' 1 1 he principal springs known at present are the Soda Springs in 
Oneida county, the Hot Springs near Boise City, the Warm Springs near Idaho City, the newly 
discovered springs on Hot creek (a tributary of the East Payette) and those on the headwaters 
of the Salmon and Wood rivers. 

The met remarkable group in Idaho, or on the entire Pacific slope for that matter, are the 
Soda Springs of Oneida county. They are situated in a magnificent valley 7.230 feet above tha 
level of the sea, and are easily reached from the east or west by the Oregon Branch of the 
Union Pacific Railway, which passes through this region on its way to Portland. Within a 
radius of two or three miles are scores of large springs, the waters ranging from almost ice 
cold to warm, containing magnesia, soda, iron, sulphur, and various other constituents, in such 
proportions as to htve a great power on disease, and some of them being so highly charged 
with carbonic acid and other gases as to prove a most pleasing beverage. The waters are a 
superb tonic, and are effecting remarkable cures of skin and blood diseases, dyspepsia, rheu- 
matism, and many other ills our flesh is heir to. The Soda Springs region abounds in other 
attractions worth crossing our continent to see. A large hotel, with beautiful grounds, will 
be added next season by the Union Pacific Company to what nature has so gloriously com- 
menced. 

EMPLOYMEN T.— WA GES. 

There is a fair demand for mechanics and laborers at wages given below . The great activity 
in railway building and mining, assured for 1882, justifies the belief that at least 5,000 additional 
working men can find employment in Idaho at about double the wages paid east of the Missis- 
sippi. The chance for these to invest their earnings and thus soon become possessors of good 
homes, or a competence in other ways, is probably better in Idaho and adjacent territories than 
anywhere under the sun: 



Bakers, per month and board $ 65 00 

Blacksmiths, per da \ 5.00 

Bookkeepers, per mouth 125.00 

Bricklayers, per day.. 5.00 

Btilchers, per month and board 65.00 

Brickmakers. " '• 50.00 

Carpenters, per day 4.00 

First cook, per month and board 1 10.00 

Second co'<k, " ik 55.00 

Cooks in families, " ". 30.00 

Chambermaids, " " HO. 00 

Clerks, per month SO. 00 

Dressmakers 70.00 

Dairymen, per month and board 25.00 

Engineers in mills, per day 4.50 

Farm hands, per mouth and board 25.00 

Harness makers, per day 3.00 



Hostlers, per month and board $ 50. 00 

Laundresses, bl ik 30.00 

Laborers, " v * 35.00 

Lumbermen, " " 50.00 

Machinists, per day 4.50 

Miners, " 3.50 

Millers, per month and board 65.00 

Millwrights, per day 4.50 

Painters, " 4.00 

Printers, per w^ek 20.00 

Plasterers, per day , 6.00 

School teachers, per month 65 00 

Servants, per month and board 30.00 

Shepherds, " k * 30.00 

Stone masons, per day 6.00 

Teamsters, per month and board 50.00 

Waiters, " " 55.00 



IDAHO TERRlTORY. 



79 



EXPENSES OF LIVING. 

Following are prices current at Boise and other valley towns for staple groceries, etc. 
Clothing costs about twenty per cent more than in localities east of the Missouri river. All 
articles, however, transported from the east will be much cheaper by mid-summer of 1882, 
because of the completion by that time to the heart of ihe territory of the Oregon branch of 
the Union Pacific railway, and consequent reduction in freight rates: 



Alden apples, per lb 

Apples, dried per lb 

Allspice, per lb 

Blackberries, dried, per lb 

Cherries, dried, per lb 

Corn, canned 

Corn starch, per paper 

Coffee, Rio, per lb 

Coffee, Java, per lb 

Codfish, per lb 

Candies, per lb 

Coal oil, per gal 

Hominy, p r lb 

Honey, per lb 

Lard, per lb 

Molasses, per gal 1 

Mustard, per lb 

Nutmegs, per doz 

Oysters, canned 



18 to 


25 


14 to 


18 




50 


18 to 


20 




30 




40 




25 


25 to 


30 


30 to 


40 




20 


30 to 


50 


75 to 1.00 


8 to 


10 




50 


IS to 


20 


00 to 


1.75 


50 to 


60 


15 to 


25 


30 to 


40 



Peas, canned 30 to 40 

Pepper, per lb 40 to 50 

Prunes, per lb 20 to 25 

Peaches, dried, per lb 18 to 25 

Pickles, per gal 75 to 1.00 

Raisins, per lb 25 to 30 

Kice.perlb 15 to 18 

Salt, per sack 2 to 75 

Soap, per lb., common 12 to 15 

Starch, per lb 16 to 20 

Syrup, per gal . ., 1.00 to 1.76 

Sugar, brown. New Orleans. per lb., 15 to 20 

Sugar, granulated, per lb 18 to 20 

Sugar, A coffee, per lb 16 to 20 

Tea, Japan, per lb 40 to 60 

Tea, bla« k, per lb 75 to 1.00 

Tomatoes, canned 30 to 40 

Vinegar per gal 50 to 1.00 

Yeast powders, per can 20 to 75 



Rough lumber costs $22.50 per 1,000 feet; finishing lumber, $40.00; brick, $7.50 to $9.00 per 
1,000; lime, $2.25 per 100 pounds. Beef in quantity sells at five cents per pound; venison, 
six to seven cents; pork, eight to ten cents; fresh salmon, eight to ten cents; mutton, six to 
ten cents; wool, $5 to $7 per cord. Rents of cottages, four to six rooms, $10 to $25 per month. 
Board and lodging at hotels, $9 to $14 per week; at boarding houses, $6 to $10 per week. 
Livery, single seated rig per day, $4 to $6; double seated, $6 to $8; saddle horses, per day, $3 
to $4. Prices of vegetables, etc., are given under the head of agriculture. As many will go 
direct to the mining regions, I append the following prices current obtained at Ketchum, Wood 
River, a point so located as to afford a fair idea of the difference in cost of living between the 
valley and mountain towns: 



Flour, per 100 lbs 

Bacon, dry salt, per lb.. 
Bacon, breakfast, per lb 

Hams, per lb 

Beans, per lb 

Oats, per lb , 

Hay, per ton 

Coffee, per lb 20 to 



4.75 
2J 
22 
22 
10 
(5 
20.(0 
50 

Tea, per lb 50 to 2.00 

Butter, per lb 50 to 65 

Eggs, per doz 40 

Sugar, per lb IS to 21 

Canned fruits, two lbs 50 

Canned vegetables, two lbs 33 

Jellies and jams '"• 50 

Syrups, per gal 1.35 

Powder, sporting, per lb 1.00 

Powder, blasting, per 25 lb. keg. .. 8.00 



Powder* giant, per lb $ 60 to 80 

Nails, per lb 12 >£ 

Steel, per lb 22 

Chewing tobacco, per lb 1 00 

Dried apples, Alden 22 

Dried grapes and other fruits 25 to 33 

Rough lumber, per M 45.00 

California dressed lumber, per M. 100.00 

Sash. 10x12. per window 5.00 

Saddle horses, per day 4.00 

Two seated rigs, per day 10.00 

Hay, per day, one horse 1.00 

Hay and gi\.in per day, one horse, 2.50 

Meals 50 

Lodging 50 

Board, first-class, per day 3.00 

Board, first-class, per week 12.00 to 16.00 

At boarding houses per week. . . 7.00 to 10 00 



Following are pricts of firm implements and animals in the principal settlements: 



Mowers $125 00 to $ 140 00 

Reapers 200 00 to 

Reapers and mowers com- 
bined 240 00 to 

Threshing machines. 8 and 

10-horse 900 00 to 

Deere and Buford plows, 

12-inch 20 00 to 

Gangplows 135 00 to 



300 


00 


250 


00 


1,000 00 


25 
150 


00 
(0 



Bain and Schuttler farm 

wagons 125 00 to 

Two-horse teams 150 00 to 

Mule teams '200 00 to 

Oxen, per yoke 80 I to 

Saddle ho ses, each 40 00 to 

Stock cattle, all ages, 

average 14 TO to 

Sheep 2 50 to 



140 


00 


2i5 


00 


£00 00 


100 00 


75 


00 


17 


00 


3 


50 



CITIES AND TOWNS. 
Boise City, the seat of territorial and county governments, has a population of 2,000 in- 
habitants, the telegraph, and daily stages in all directions, and newspapers, churches, schools 



80 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



etc., creditable to a population twice as great. Silver City, county scat of Owyhee county, 
population 650; Idaho City, county seat oi Boise county, population 1,C00; Lewiston, county 
seat of Nez Perce, population 800; Hailey, county seat of Alturas, population 1.000; Bellevue, 
population 1.100; Challis, county seat of Custer, population 600; Salmon City, population 500; 
Bonanza, 500; Blackfoot, 500; and Rocky Bar, Atlanta, Eagle Bock, Vienna, Sawtooth,- 
Albion, Grilena and Franklin are leading towns, having a population of from 300 to 500 each* 
Schools, churches, newspapers, secret societies, libraries, hotels and other features of much 
older towns of the same population in the East, are found in these. 1 hey are all easily accessible 
by daily stage, and most of them will be on rail lines within eighteen months — see "rail and 
stage routes' 1 in succeeding pages. 

IDAHO ALTITUDES. 

The average elevation of Idaho is 4,700 feet above sea level. The Territory contains 
13, '200 square miles of valley lands possessing a lower elevation than 3,000 feet ; 10.000 square 
miles between 3,000 and 4,000 feet; 22,000 square miles hetweeu 4.000 and 5,000 feet, and 19,200 
square miles between 5,000 and 6.000 feet. Only 15,600 of its 86,800 square miles of area is 
above the elevation last noted. It will be remembered by most readers that 6,000 feet of 
altitude is not considered great in the Rocky Mountain country. Denver, Colorado, em- 
bowel ed in groves and orchards, lacks but a f^vtr hundred feet of that elevation. Cheyenne, 
Wyoming, is higher, and in fact there is hardly a city, town or settlement of note in all the 
R )cky Mountain country that is not nearer cloudlaud than 4,770 feet — the average elevation 
of Idaho. The greater the elevation the more rigorous the climate; so it will be seen that 
Idaho would have much to gain by a comparison in this respect with any of her Rocky Moun- 
tain neighbors. Following are elevations of all prominent towns, lakes, valleys, etc., of 
Idaho, as ascertained by the observations of Prof. Hay den and other explorers: 



Place. Feet. 

American Falls 4,320 

Atlanta 5.525 

Alturas Lake , 6,6(0 

Bear Biver Bridge 5,744 

Bennington 5.798 

Blackfoot Fork Bridge. 4,456 

Blackfoot City 4.523 

Blackfoot Peak 7.490 

Bear Lake 5,900 

Black Rock 5,500 

Bloomiugton 5,985 

Bonanza Citv 6.400 

Bellevue 5,200 

Boise City 2.800 

Big Camas Prairie 4,000 

Camas Prairie (North). 3,500 

Camas Station 4,722 

Clifton 4,893 

Cceur d'Alene Mission.. 2,280 

Cottonwood 3,3C0 

Clawson Toll Gate 4,300 

Custer Mine 8.4^0 

Craig Mountain 4,080 

Custer Mountain 8,7t>0 

Caribou Mountain 9.854 

Custer City 6.560 

Centreville 4.825 

Challis 5,400 

Drv Creek Station 5,689 

Eagle Rock 4,720 

Elk Prairie 2,380 

Estes Mountain 10,050 

Fort Hall 4,783 

Fort Lapwai 2.000 

Franklin City 4,516 

Florida Mountain 7,750 

Florence 8,0<>0 

Fish Haven 5,932 

Forks of Lolo 4,450 

Gentile Valley (head) .. 5,245 



Place. Feet. 

Galena City 7.900 

Gladiator Mine 9.700 

Grand Teton 13,691 

Georgetown 5,800 

Georgetown Peak 8,646 

Henry Lake 6,443 

June, of Lolo and Middle 

Forks Clearwater 1,304 

June, of South and Mid- 
dle Forks Clearwater . 1,110 

Idaho City 4,263 

Junction Stathm 6.329 

Jesse Benton Mine 7.600 

Jack-on Lake 6.S06 

Ketch urn 5 700 

Kreney's Station 4.933 

Laketown 6,000 

Lewiston 6*0 

Little Salmon Meadows. 3,500 
Lake Pend d'Oreille ... 1,45 ( > 

Libertv 6.060 

Lake Cceur d'Alene 3,500 

Long Valley 3.700 

Malade Citv 4,700 

Market lake 4,795 

Montpelier 5 793 

Morris town 5,700 

Moose Lake 5,600 

Mouth of Owyhee River 2,130 
Mouth Portneuf River.. 4,522 
Mount Idaho City.. . 3.480 

Mount Stevens 7,000 

Montana mine 9, £00 

Meade Mountain 10,540 j 

Mount Preuss 9.979 

Marsh Cone 7,663 

Malade Mountain 9.220 j 

Oneida Salt Works 6,300 I 

Oneida (town) 5,700 

Ovid 5,760 I 



Place. 

Oxford 

Oliver Call 1 s Bridge 

Paris 

Pleasant Valley Station. 

Pocatello Station 

Packer's Bridge 

Paris Peak 

Placerville 

Putnam Mountain ...... 

Quartzbnrg , 

Ross Fork Station 

Red Rock Ranch 

Rock CrtM-k 

Rocky liar 

Red Fish Lake 

Sawtelle's Peak 

St. Charles 

St. George 

Salmon Citv. 

Salt River Valley 

Soda Springs 

Sweetwater Crossing .. 

Silver City 

Sawtooth City 

Soda Peak 

Summit bet. Challis and 

Bonanza 

Summit bet. Boise&Idaho 
Summit bet. Idaho City 

and Centreville 

South Mountain City... 

Salmon Falls 

Stoner's Station 

Shaw's Mt'n Station ... 

Stierman's Station 

Upper Weiser Valley . . . 
Wood River (average) . . 
War Eagle Mountain . . . 

Weston 

Yuba City 



Feet. 

4,*62 

3.304 

5.836 

6.086 

4.512 

4.500- 

9,522 

5.100' 

8,933 

5.115 

4,394 

4,792 

4.513 

5.200 

6,600 

9,070 

5,932 

5,771 

4.030 

5.800 

5.779 

1,360 

6.680 

7.000 

9,683 



9,100 

4,815 



4,812 
6,450 
3.226 
4,621 
3,547 
3,745 
3.000 
4,900 
7,980 
4.600 
5,650 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



81 



POPULATION, VALUATION, TAXES, ETC. 

Following is an exhibit of the population and assessed valuation of the various counties of 
Idaho in 1870, 1880, and 1881 and rate of taxation for 1881. The statistics of 1870 and 1880 are 
official ; of 1881 partially estimated from the best data obtainable, as reports of assessors are not 
all complete at this writing, The figures under the head of "taxation 11 represeut the total 
tax on each one hundred dollars of assessed valuation of the county in question: 



Counties. 



Ada 

Alturas 

Bear Lake 

Boise 

Cassia 

Custer 

Idaho 

Lemhi 

Kootenai 

Nez Perce 

Oneida 

Owyhee 

Shoshone .... 
Washington . . 



Totals . 



Population. 



1870. 1880. 1881 



2,675 
689 



3,834 



849 



1,607 
1.922 
1,713 



722 



14,999 



4,674 
1,693 
3,237 
3,213 
1,315 

2,031* 

2,230 

318 

3,965 

6,962 

1,427 

467 

877 



32,611 



5,000 
9,000 
3,500 
3,213 
2,000 
3,000 
2,031 
1,500 
2,000 
4,200 
7,5(0 
1,427 
470 
1,100 



46,241 



Assessed Valuation. 



$ 918,141 
148,178 

\ 1*405,017' 



198,928 
178,716 

449,011* 

176,600 

1,747,384 

70,930 



$5,292,205 



1880. 



$1,325,152 
371,591 

148,479 
713,527 

304,388 

"532*908* 
500,000 

864,737* 
878,722 
542,896 
45,646 
180,043 



$6,408,089 



1881. 



$1,609,534 

786,791 

164,182 

801,033 

257,000 

582, 780 

600,000 

365,881 

163,612 

1,218,418 

1,100,0(0 

637,237 

50,000 

196,000 



$8,372,958 



Taxa- 
tion. 

1881. 



$2 00 

2 85 
1 75 

1 90 

3 00 

2 40 
1 95 
1 90 



2 25 
2 15 

2 65 
2 05 

2 40 



The rapid increase in values necessarily following the wonderful developments in various 
mining regions and the extension of railways is effecting a rapid decrease in the territorial 
tax. The legislature was enabled to reduce this tax nearly one hundred per cent in 1880 and 
a further reduction will probably occur in 1882. It is safe to say that the assessed valuation of 
next year will reach $15,000,000, nearly double the present valuation. Idaho's securities are 
at par. The Territorial indebtedness is only $73,371.31, while a large cash surplus now in the 
treasury renders Idaho about as good as out of debt. What other commonwealth can say a 3 
much. Few items are of less importance to the intending settler than that one which informs 
him he is going to a region practically possessing a clean balance sheet. Several of the 
counties, burdened with the greatest debt, are naturally the riches'", and in two or three years 
at furthest, can make a showing equal to the best. 

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES. 

Money commands from fifteen to twenty per cent per annum; the bank rates of interest 
being twelve to eighteen per cent. Idaho affords fine opportunities for business men of 
either large or moderate means, who will be content with profits ranging from fifteen to 
twenty-five per cent interest on capital invested. Capital, directed by sagacity and enter- 
prise, possesses great advantages here as elsewhere; indeed, the new avenues being con- 
tinually opened by the rapid development of a bountiful new country multiply the opportuni- 
ties for its profitable employment. I have noticed scarcely any reputable vocation wherein 
the same capital and good management which insures success in eastern communities, will 
not yield greater returns here. Now, above all other periods, is the time to put money into 
commercial ventures, real estate, mines or live stock, as the early coming of railways and 
heavy immigration will enhance the value of such property to a degree not now possible to 
comprehend. It is unnecessary, however, for any one to load himself down with the common 
necessaries of life, and transport them to such a region as Idaho. Outfitting houses of every 
nature, with such immense stocks of goods as are rare'y found in cities of 20,000 inhabitants 
in the east, are found in Boise, on Wood river, and elsewhere. The shipments made by these 
firms are so large and judiciously haudled that no individual can afford to bring articles of 
ordinary use from distant States. 

A grand field is open here for manufacturing enterprises. With water-power sufficient to 
turn the burrs and spindles of the world, inexhaustible quantities of iron, coal, copper and 
other metals, forests unexcelled, and wool, hides, ores and other raw material in any desired 
quantity, Idaho may well be looked over by those having capital and experience to expend 
on manufactures. 
6 



82 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

RAIL AND STAGE ROUTES, DISTANCES, FARES, ETC. 

Idaho has about 300 miles of completed railway, with 500 miles more in course ol con- 
struction, nearly all ol which will be finished during 1882. The Utah & Northern branch of 
the Union Pacific is the pioneer. It extends across the entire eastern end of the Territory, a 
distance of 200 miles, having for its starting point Ogden, on the Union Pacific, and now 
reaching into the heart of Montana. The Union Pacific authorities are also rapidly pushing 
the construction of their " Oregon Branch " across the Territory from east to west. This 
branch leaves the main line at Granger station, Wyoming, passes northwesterly through the 
Soda Springs country, crosses the Utah & Northern branch at or near Pocatella station, and 
then takes as nearly an air line as possible for the lower Boise and eastern Oregon country 
and the North Pacific coast. Two hundred miles of this line is graded, and iron will be 
laid to a point near Boise city by autumn of 1882. The main line will pass within fifty 
miles of the "Wood river mines, to which a branch will be completed by mid-summer of 
1882. It will penetrate a vast stock region, and in the vicinity of Boise will tap the finest 
agricultural section, as well as mineral and forest lands. This great line will result in develop- 
ing Idaho more rapidly within the next two years than that Territory has been developed in 
the last ten, and those who engage in farming, stock-raising or mining along the line, or within 
easy striking distance now, will, in a few years, find their possessions wonderfully enhanced 
In value. 

The Northern Pacific Company has this year laid about seventy-five miles of track in 
northern Idaho from the west, connecting that vast and rich region with Portland and the 
Pacific ocean. It will, probably, within two years complete its route across the continent, 
giving Idaho its second trans- continental line. 

Good stage roads lead from the railroads to most of the important towns and settlements. 
A.11 of eastern and central Idaho is easily reached from the Utah & Northern branch of the 
Union Pacific. Daily stages of the Gilmer & Salisbury line run from Blackfoot station to 
Bellevue, Ketchum, and other points in the Wood river country, and thence to Boise, and to 
Challis, Bonanza and Custer in the Salmon river and Yankee Fork region; tri -weekly from 
Camas station to Salmon city and other points in Lemhi Valley, and from Oxford to the Soda 
Springs region. Boise City and all points in western Idaho are also reached via daily stage 
from Kelton and Winnemucca on the Central Pacific. 

Passenger rates from Omaha, St. Joseph, Leavenworth or Kansas City via the Union 
Pacific railway to Idaho points, will vary but little from the following. By the completion 
next season into the heart of Idaho of the Oregon branch of the Union Pacific railway, the 
time from the east will be cut down nearly one-half, and the rates considerably reduced. 

~ t .«. /ii..«„ nj m« M oa /-n„-« Dist. from Time from 

Omaha to 1st. Class. 2d. Class. 3d. Class. Omaha. Omaha. 

Blackfoot $ 7145 $70 00 $40 00 1211 miles 2% days 

Boise City.... 96 75 75 00 1461 » 4^ " 

Bonanza 98 00 83 00 50 00 1401 " 4^4 " 

Bellevue 89 00 78 00 45 00 1839 " 4 " 

Hailey 89 50 78 00 45 00 1344 u 4 * 

Ketchum 9150 80 50 47 50 1355 " 4& " 

SalmonCity 93 55 1340 " 4% " 

Lewiston 116 75 95 00 1861 " 9 " 

Parties of ten or more, can secure much lower rates to Blackfoot by corresponding with 
the General Passenger Agent of the Union Pacific Railway at Omaha, Nebraska. Round 
trip tickets will also be furnished at reduced rates. 

Rates on eastern roads are constantly changing, so that I will not attempt to give fares 
from points east of the Missouri river. Parties will invariably save money by buying tickets 
through to their destination, if such are obtainable at their starting point; if not, tickets 
can always be purchased to Omaha, where tickets to all points west are always on sale. 

On rail routes, children under five years of age, free; under twelve years, half- fare. On 
stage lines, children under three years, free; under twelve and over three years, half- fare; 
over twelve, full fare. Baggage free on each full ticket, 100 pounds, and on each half ticket, 
fifty pounds on all classes to railroad points. Extra baggage per 100 pounds is ten to fifteen 
percent of first-class fare. Free baggage allowance on stages is usually forty or fifty pounds, 
and the charge for extra weight higher than for same distance by rail. Freight rates on 
household goods from Council Bluffs or Omaha to Idaho points vary from three to seven cents 
per pound; in car load lots considerably less. Meals are regularly furnished along rail and 
stage routes at from fifty cents to $1 00 each. 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



83 



From Belle vue, Boise and other points, daily stage lines radiate to various parts of the 
Territory as well as to Oregon and Washington points. They make an average distance of 
over 100 miles per twenty-four hours; and their rates vary from ten to fifteen cents per mile. 
Following are distances and rates from Boise by the Utah, Idaho and Oregon Stage Company's 
daily lines: 



From Boise to 



Miles. Fare. 



40 



Falk 1 s Store, I. T 

Weiser, I. T 75 

Baker City, Ore 140 

Union, Ore 175 

La Grande, Ore 190 

♦Pendleton, Ore 243 

Pilot Rock, Ore 261 

Heppner 1 s, Ore 300 

John Day's, Ore 356 

Dalles, Ore 401 

tUmatilla, Ore 281 

Centerville, Ore 263 

Weston, Ore ...: 266 

Walla Walla, W . T 293 



$ 4 00 
8 00 
18 00 
22 00 
24 00 
32 00 

34 00 
38 00 

45 00 

46 00 

35 00 
34 00 

34 00 

35 00 



From Boise to 



Miles. Fare. 



Silver City, I. T 60 

Camp McDermit, Nev 195 

Willow Creek, Nev 220 

JWinnemucca, Nev 270 



§Mt. Home, I. T 
Salmon Falls, I. T. 



50 
100 
Rock Creek, I. T 150 

190 
250 
36 
45 
49 
53 



Albion, I T. 
||Kelton, Utah.... 
Idaho City, I. T.. 
Centerville, I. T. 
Placerville, I. T.. 
Quartzburg, I. T. 



$ 8 00 
25 00 

29 00 
35 00 

8 00 
16 00 
24 00 

30 00 
35 00 

5 00 

6 50 

7 00 
7 50 



♦Conecting with daily stages for AValla Walla, Dayton, Colfax and Lewiston. fConnect- 
ing with O. R. & N. Co's steamers for Portland. ^Connecting with express trains of C. P. Ry. 
for San Francisco. §Connecting with daily stages for Rocky Bar and Atlanta. ||Connecting 
with Central and Union Pacific express trains for Omaha and the East. 

Following are distances by tri- weekly stage, and rates from Boise to Malheur, Oregon, 
and intermediate points: 



From Boise to 



Miles. Fare. 



Middleton 25 $ 2 50 

McDonnell 1 s Ferry 50 5 00 

Malheur River 67 8 00 



From Boise to 



Miles. Fare. 



Grove Springs 86 $8 00 

Malheur City 100 1100 

Baker 140 14 00 



Following are distances by stage and rates from Lewiston, North Idaho, to outlying 
points: 



Lapwai Route.— Tri- Weekly. 
Miles . 

Fort Lapwai 13 

White's Station 20 

Mason's 35 

Sawyer's Canon 45 

Cottonwood 50 

Marvville 58 

Mt. Idaho 60 

Colfax Route. — Tri -Weekly. 
Miles. 

Union town 12 

Litchville 20 

Ewartsville 40 

Colfax 45 



Fare . 

5 1 50 

2 5) 

4 00 

6 00 

7 50 
10 00 
10 00 



Fare . 
2 00 

2 00 

3 50 

4 00 



Dayton Route.— Daily. 
Miles. 

White's Ferry 8 

Alpowa 12 

Paiaha City 35 

Pomeroy 36 

Marengo 45 

Dayton (i0 

Palouse Route.— Tri- Weekly. 
Miles. 

Genessee 15 

Moscow 28 

Palouse City 45 

Farmington 50 



Fare. 



$ 75 


1 50 


3 50 


3 50 


5 00 


7 00 


Fare. 


$ 1 50 


3 00 


4 50 


6 00 



Following are distances from various centers in Idaho by roads or trails to tributary 
points. Points marked * are reached by roads; those marked | at present by trails. Wagon 
roads are being rapidly constructed to all inhabited points: 



Silver City to Miles. 

♦South Mountain — south 30 

♦Wagontown — west 9 

♦Reynolds Creek — northeast 16 

* War Eagle Mines — east 2 

♦Florida Mountain Mines — west 2 

♦Meadow Creek Mines - southeast 16 

♦Bruneau Valley— east 60 

♦Castle Creek— northeast 40 

♦Catherine Creek — northeast 25 

♦Boise— north 6u 

♦Winnemucca — south 210 

♦Jordan Valley— west 20 

♦Flint Creek Mines- south 9 

♦Suake River Placers — east 40 



i 



Rocky Bar to Miles. 

♦Red Warrior — south 4 

♦Atlanta— north . 16 

♦Bonaparte — east 7 

♦Junction Bar — east , . . 8 

|Big Smoky Mines — east 40 

fLittle Smoky Mines - east 50 

♦Bellevue— southeast 90 

♦Happy Camp— east 3>£ 

♦Sou th Boise Mines — south 11 

♦Boise City — west 110 

tKetchum— east 80 

♦Mountain Home— south 55 

fSawtooth City— northeast 41 

♦Kelton— south 250 



84 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 



From Hailey to Miles. 

♦Bullion— west 6 

♦Star Gulch— west 

♦Quigley Gulch — east 

♦Warm Springs creek— northwest .... 2 

♦Deer Creek mines — northwest . • 27 

♦West Fork mines— northeast 

♦Elkhorn — northeast j 

tEast Fork— northeast 3 

♦Ketch um — northwest , 

♦Bellevue — south 

♦Sawtooth — northwest 

♦Blackfoot — past 

♦Kelton— south 165 

♦Boise— west . ill) 

♦Greenhorn Gulch — northwest 

fRocky Bar — west 

t Atlanta — west 

♦Vienna — northwest 

From Soda Springs to Miles. 

♦Hooper Spring— northwest .... 1 

♦Ninety Per Cent Spring— west 1 

♦Roland Spring— west 1 

♦Swamp Angel Spring— northwest 2 

♦Harp Spring— northwest 1 

Octogon Spring (in village) 

Codman Spring (in village) 

♦Steamboat Springs— west 2 

Tepid Iron Spring (in village) 

♦Sulphur Lake and mountain— southeast. . . 4 

♦Formation Spring and caves -north 4 

♦Ice Cave — southwest 9 

♦Crater of volcano — southwest 10 

*Swan Lake — southwest... 8 

♦Ammonia mines — west 1 

♦Mount Sherman — south 10 

♦Beaver Lakes — southwest 5 

♦Bear Lake — south 25 

♦Wood Canon— northeast 4 

♦Point of Rocks— southwest 5 

*Lava Park— east 2 



From Bonanza to 



Miles. 



♦Norton Hill mines 1 

♦Mount Cue ter mines 3 

t Mount Estes mines 6 

fLoon Creek mines 20 

f Stanley Basin placer mines 18 

♦Challis 35 

♦Custer City 2 

fEast Fork mines 45 

f Upper Wood river 70 

♦Lower Wood river 100 

fSawtooth mines 60 

t Prairie Basin mines 50 

♦Blackfoot. 190 

From Camas to Miles. 

♦Birch Creek 26 

♦Willow Creek 44 

♦Junction Ranch 74 

♦Old Fort Lemhi 112 

♦Salmon City 132 

♦Henry Lake 45 



From Bellevue to Miles. 

♦Galena Gulch — west 1 

♦Broadford — west I 

♦Star Gulch— northwest 2 

tBig Smokey mines— northwest 55 

♦Smiley Gulch— northwest 50 

♦Hailey— northwest 5 

fLittle Smokey mines— northwest 30 

♦Deer Creek - northwest 10 

tGreenhorn Gu'ch— northwest 11 

fLittle Wood river mines- east. 25 

♦Warm Spring creek — northwest 17 

t Atlanta— northwest 65 

♦Ketchum— northwest 16 

fRocky Bar- northwest 65 

♦Galena — northwest 45 

♦Sawtooth northwest. 5G 

♦Vienna — northwest 50 

♦Bullion — northwest 12 

♦Rock Creek— southwest 6 

♦Indian Creek— north 7 

♦East Fork— north 10 

♦Ornament Hill — southwest 6 

♦Blackfoot— east 1 28 

♦Boise— west 130 

♦Kelton— south 160 

From Sawtooth City to Miles. 

♦Smiley Basin — southeast 10 

♦Vienna— southeast 7 

♦Eureka Gulch— south hV% 

♦Pilgrim Mine, Beaver Gulch-southwest. . . 5 

♦Columbia and Beaver- souths est 4 

♦Eureka Hill , Lucky Boy— west 6)4 

fEast Fork Mines— northeast 7 

f Big Smoky Mines— south 18 

f Atlanta -west 28 

fRocky Bar— west 44 

f Alturas Lake— north 2% 

fBig Lake, or Atlanta — north 12 

♦Galena — east 14 

♦Stanley Basin— north 45 

♦Mines head of Salmon— southeast 6 

f Bonanza City — north 60 

♦Ketchum— south , 41 

♦Bellevue — south 59 

♦Blackfoot — southeast 189 

♦Kelton— south 220 

fBoise City— west 138 

From Challis to Miles. 

♦Bay Horse 11 

fSalmon City 65 

♦Blackfoot 160 

♦Clayton 30 

f Poverty Flat.... .. 33 

From Galena to Miles. 

♦Bear Gulch mines— east 3 

♦White Cloud gulch— northeast 3 

♦Chf rry Creek mines — southeast 3 

♦Vienna— northwest 6 

♦Sawtooth City— northwest 12 

♦Boulder Creek mines — south 12 

f North Foik mines— south 22 



Idaho Laws. 



FOLLOWING is a synopsis of public school, mining, irrigation, stock, ex- 
emption and other laws of Idaho Territory, kindly prepared for this 
work by Hon. Jas. L. Onderdonk, a prominent attorney of Boise City. The 
intending seUler will observe that education is most liberally fostered, that 
the miner, farmer and stock raiser are thoroughly protected in their various 
rights; that the wife is exempt from obligations incurred by her husband, and 
the heads of families guarded against executions of an unreasonable nature, 
and that the limitations and other statutes are at once reasonable and just: 

Public Schools.— All moneys accruing from tlie sale of all lands heretofore given or which 
may hereafter be given by the Congress of the United States for school purposes in Idaho, and 
all moneys that may be given and appropriated by Congress for school purposes, unless by spec- 
ial provision, shallbe appropriated for the establishment of a university or other high school, 
and any moneys by legacy or otherwise given for educational purposes, and appropriated for 
the general school fund, and all moneys accruing to the territory from escheated estates, con- 
stitute an irreducible aud indivisible Territorial General School Fund, the interest only accru- 
ing from which shall be appropriated to the respective counties. The county commissioners 
are required to levy a tax of not less than two nor more than eight mills on every dollar of tax- 
able property in their respective counties for school purposes. All moneys from fines or for- 
feitures for a breach of any of the penal laws are also placed in the county school fund. 
School moneys are apportioned, by the County School Superintendent, among the districts as 
follows: one half is divided equally among the districts, the remaining half is apportioned per 
capita among the districts according to the number of children. 

A board of trustees is elected in each district annually. 

No books, papers, tracts or documents of a political, sectarian, or denominational charac- 
ter shall be used or introduced in any school, and any and every political, sectarian or denom- 
inational doctrine is expressly forbidden to be taught in the public schools. 

Every cliild between five and twenty-one years old is entitled to attend public schools. 

Teachers are required to pass an examination before the county board of examiners, in 
orthography, reading, penmanship, arithmetic, geography and TT. S. history, before receiving 
a license to teach. 

Mining.— All claims miy extend three hundred feet on each sfde of the middle of the vein 
or lode; stakes and monuments to be taken to mark correctly the line thoreof. A stake or 
post not less than four inches square or in diameter and four feet high above the surface to be 
placed at each end of the ground claimed, and as near as practicable along the course of the 
ledge, and at eacli corner of the location. The notice to be posted on a center stake or at the 
point of discovery or prospecting work. When stakes or posts cannot conveniently be had, 
well built monuments of stone of like height may be used. The notice must contain date of lo- 
cation, name of claim, number of feet along the vein, width from the middle of the vein, and 
description of locality, by such reference to natural landmarks or fixed objects and contiguous 
claims, if any, as to render the situation reasonably certain from the letter of the notice. 
Every claim to be recorded, within fifteen days from posting of the notice, in the district 
where it is situated or at the nearest office to the claim. The county recorders are required to 
appoint a deputy at any place deemed necessary, and at any place more than ten miles distant 
from an existing office, upon the petition of ten or more interested locators. Upon failure to 
appoint such deputy within ten days from receipt of such petition, the resident miners may 
appoint one of their number to act until the county recorder shall appoint such deputy. 

Within five days after presenting the notice for record, one of the locaters named therein 
must make affidavit in proper form before the deputy that he is acquainted with the ground 
described, and that the same has not heretofore been legally located, or if so located has been 
abandoned or forfeited. The notice recorded is a copy, or substantially a copy, of the notice 



86 IDAHO TERRITORY. 

placed upon the claim, and shall he recorded upon payment of $3.00, which shall he full com- 
pensation for administering the oath, and all services connected with the recording. Wilful 
or malicious destruction of any notice on a claim, or destruction or removal of any stake or 
monument indicating a claim, is a misdemeanor. 

Any mine owner or proprietor may have the right of way for ingress or egress over the 
claims of others, and shall be entitled to right of way, entry and possession to and 
across other lands or claims for all the uses and privileges for a road, railroad, tramway, ditch, 
canal, flume, cut, shaft or tunnel necessary to the convenient or better working of a claim. 
Such right to be granted after petition to and hearing by the District Judge, who shall appoint 
commissioners to appraise' the damages, an appeal lying to the District Court from the assess- 
ment of damages by the commissioners. 

Water. — The right to use flowing water may be acquired by appropriation, priority in 
time securing priority of right. The appropriation must be made in good faith, for some use- 
ful and beneficial purpose, and when once perfected may be converted to any other beneficial 
use than originally intended. A notice must be placed at the point of division stating; (1) the 
quantity of water intended to be diverted, giving the number of inches under a four-inch pres- 
sure and accurately describing the point of diversion; (2) the purpose for which it is intended 
to be used; (3) the means designed for converting and conducting such waters and the size of 
the ditch or other conduit. Similar provisions apply to recording notice, <£c, as in the case 
of mining claims. Work must be begun within sixty days after notice is posted, and be pros- 
ecuted without unnecessary interruption. Landowners shall be entitled to right of way 
through lands of others Avhen necessary for purposes of irrigation, but shall be liable for all 
damages occasioned by overflow, avoidable accident, &c. 

Stock. — Every stock-grower is obliged to use one, and only one, brand and mark for cat- 
tle, which shall be recorded in the county recorder's office in his county. In all legal pro- 
ceedings, where the title of any live stock is involved, the brand on any such animal shall be 
prima facie evidence of the ownership of the person whose brand it may be, when duly re- 
corded. Every stock- drover is obliged to select and use a road brand for all live stock driven 
through or into the Territory, which shall be plainly and distinctly branded on some conspicu- 
ous part of each animal. Every stock drover is required each day to examine his herd, and 
to separate from it cattle not belonging to the herd. Driving away from a range 
cattle not belonging to the stock drover, unless left at the corral nearest the 
range, is a misdemeanor; the offender being also liable to the owner in double damages, 
and to attachment of his own stock as security for such damages. The county commissioners 
of any county shall upon the petition of five resident stock owners appoint one or more stock 
inspectors, whose duty it shall be to detect any violation of any act relating to livestock, and 
who shall have power to cut out and separate from any herd, or drove, all range stock not be- 
longing to such herd or drove, and detain the herd or drove for that purpose, and arrest any 
persons violating the law, and take them before a court of competent jurisdiction. 

The foregoing provisions relating to stock owners and drovers apply to all the counties ex- 
cept Nez Perce , Idaho and Shoshone. 

Possessory Claims to Lands . — Any person being a citizen of the United States, or who 
has legally declared his intention to become such, occupying or settled upon any of the public 
lands in this Territory for the purpose of cultivating and grazing the same, may commence 
and maintain any action for interference with or injury to his possession of such land. Pro- 
vided that such land is more valuable for ag* culture than mineral purposes. Every claim shall 
not contain more than 160 acres, shall be n compact form, and in no plaee less than 
eighty rods in width, and so distinctly marked that the boundaries thereof may be easily traced. 
The claim must be accurately described in a written notice which shall be recorded in the 
County Recorder's office, together with an affidavit of the claimant setting forth, (1) that 
such claim does not exceed 160 acres; (2) that the claimant holds no other land under the pro- 
visions of the act under which he claims; (3) that to the best of his information and belief no 
part of said land is claimed under any existing adverse title. Within ninety days after the 
date of such record the claimant shall improve the land unless the same shall have been pre- 
viously done, by putting up improvements thereon partaking of the realty to the value of $200. 
Occupation and cultivation or grazing of the land, or some portion thereof, either by the 
claimant in person or agent, must be continuous. 

Homestead. — The homestead consisting of a quantity of land, together with dwelling 
house thereon, to the amount of $5,(00 shall not be subject to forced sale in execution of any 



IDAHO TERRITORY. 87 

final process from any court. The selection shall be made by husband or wife, or both, or oth- 
er head of a family declaring their intention in writing to claim the same as a homestead; said 
declaration shall state that they or either of them are married, or head of a family; that they 
or either of them are residing with their family, or with the person under their care, on the 
premises, particularly describing said premises, and that it is their intention to use and claim 
the same as a homestead ; which declaration shall be executed and recorded as conveyances 
affecting real esiate. Such exemption shall not extend to any mechanic's laborer's or ven- 
dor's lien, nor to any mortgage or other lien to secure the purchase money for said home- 
stead. No transfer of, or mortgage or other lein upon fhe homestead property shall be valid 
unless executed by the owner, and, if married, by the wife, if a resident of the Territory, iu 
the same manner as the conveyance of her separate and real property. A homestead shall be 
deemed to be abandoned when a declaration thereof in writing, executed in the same way as a 
conveyance thereof, is filed for record in the recorder 1 s office. 

Exemptions. — All real and personal estate belonging to any married woman at the time 
of her marriage, or to which she subsequently becomes entitled in her own right and all the 
rents, issues and profits thereof and all compensation due or owing for her personal services is 
exempt from execution against her husband. 

The following private property is exempt from execution. 

1. Chairs, tables, desks and books to the value of $200, belonging to the judgment debtor. 

2. Necessary household, table and kitchen furniture belonging to tne judgment debtor, in- 
cluding one sewing machine, in actual use in a family or belonging to a woman, stoves, stove- 
pipe, and stove furniture, wearing apparel, beds, bedding, and bedsteads, hanging pictures, 
oil paintings and drawings, drawn or painted by any member of the family, and family por- 
traits and their necessary frames; provisions actually provided for the individual or family 
use sufficient for three months; two cows with their sucking calves and two hogs with their 
sucking pigs. 

3. The farming utensils or implements of husbandry of a farmer not 'exceeding in value 
the sum of three hundred dollars; also two oxen or two horses or two mules and their harness, 
one cart or wagon, and food for such oxen, horses or mules, for one month; also all seed, 
grain or vegetables actually provided, reserved or on hand, for the purpose of planting or sow- 
ing at any time during the next six months; not exceeding in value the sum of two hundred 
dollars . 

4. Tools or implements of a mechanic or artisan necessary to carry on his trade, not ex- 
ceeding in value the sum of five hundred dollars; the notarial seal and records of a Notary 
Public, the implements and chest of a surgeon, physician, surveyor and dentist, necessary to 
the exercise of their profession, with their scientific and professional libraries; the law pro- 
fessional libraries and office furniture of attorneys, counselors and judges, and the libraries of 
ministers of the gospel. 

5. The cabin or dwelling of a minor, not exceeding in value the sum of five hundred dol- 
lars, also his sluices, pipe, hose, windless, derrick, cars, pumps and tools not exceeding in val- 
ue two hundred dollars. 

6. Two oxen, two horses, or two mules, and their harness ; and one cart or wagon, one 
dray or truck, by the use of which a cartman, drayman, truckman, huckster, peddler, hack- 
man, teamster or other laborer habitually earns his living; and one horse, with vehicle and 
harness, or other equipments, used by a physician, surgeon or minister of the gospel in mak- 
tng his professional visits, with food for such oxen, horses or mules for one month. 

7 The earnings of the judgment debtor for his personal services rendered at any time 
within thirty days next proceeding the levy of execution, or levy of attachment, when it ap- 
pears by the debtor's affidavit, or otherwise, that such earnings are necessary for the use oi 
his family, residing in this Territory, supported wholly or in part by his labor. 

8. The shares held by a member of a homestead association duly incorporated, not ex- 
ceeding in value one thousand dollars, if the person holding the share is not the owner of a 
homestead under the laws of this Territory. 

9. All moneys, benefits, privileges or immunities accruing or in any manner growing out 
of any life insurance or the life of the debtor, to an amount represeuted by an annual prem- 
ium not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars. 

10. All fire engines, hooks and ladders, with the carts, trucks and carriages, hose, buck- 
ets, implements and apparatus thereto appertaining, and all furniture and uniforms of any 
fire company or department organized under any law of the Territory. 



88 IDAHO TKKKITOKY. 

11. All arms, uniforms and accoutrements required bylaw to be kept by any person ; 
also one gun; but no article or species of property above mentioned is exempt from execu- 
tion issued upon a judgment recovered for its price or upon a mortgage thereon. 

Interest. — In the absence of express contract in writing,'interest is allowed at the rate of 
ten per cent per annum. Parties may agree in writing upon any rate not to exceed one and 
one half per cent per month. Usury is a misdemeanor, besides rendering the offender liable 
to the payment of three times the amount of excess received. 

Insolvent Debtors .--Every insolvent debtor may be discharged from his debts upon exe- 
cuting an assignment of all his property for the benefit of alibis creditors, and upon complying 
with the provisions of the insolvent law. The assignment must be bona fide without fraud. 
The district court has exclusive jurisdiction. The petition of the insolvent shall state briefly 
the circumstances compelling him to surrender his property, concluding with a prayer to 
make a cession of his estate, and to be discharged from his debts. The debtor shall annex to his 
petition his schedule or summary statement, with list of losses, amount and nature of indebt- 
edness and when accrued, and also a complete inventory of every description of property be- 
longing to him. The schedule shall be signed and verified in statutory form. The judge re- 
ceiving the papers shall make an order requiring all creditors of insolvent, except mortgages 
and attaching creditors, to show cause why an assignment should not be made and the insol- 
vent be discharged. On surrender of property the judge shall set apart for the insolvent's 
benefit so much of the debtor's property as may be exempt from execution. When issuing 
the order for meeting of creditors, the udge shall order that all proceedings against the debt- 
or shall be stayed, except proceedings on foreclosure of mortgage on other liens, or of at- 
tachment creditors. At said meeting the creditors having duly certified their claims shall pro- 
ceed to the appointment of one or more assignees, not exceeding three. 

In the absence of fraud or opposition, if the surrender has been legally made, the debtor 
shall be released and fully discharged from all debts until then contracted, and included in the 
schedule. Any insolvent found guilty of fraud shall be barred from holding any office under 
the Territory; if convicted of furnishing false declarations shall be deemed guilty of perjury; 
and if convicted of fraud shall be sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor in the Territorial 
prison for not less than six months, nor more than two years. All insolvent debtors guilty of 
any breach of trust, public or private, shall be denied the benefit of the insolvent act. 

Limitations. — No action for the recovery of real property, including possessory rights to 
lands and mining claims, can be maintained unless the plaintiff, or those through whom he 
derives title, was seized and possessed of the property within five years, before commencing 
the action. 

Actions other than for the recovery of real property must be brought as follows: 

Within six years: Upon a judgment or decree of the United States, or of any State or 
Territory within the United States; or for mesne profits of real property. 

Within five years: Upon any contract, obligation or liability founded upon an instrument 
In writing. 

Within four years: Upon a contract, obligation or liability not founded upon an instru- 
ment in writtng. 

Within three years: Upon a statutory liability other than penalty or forfeiture; trespass 
upon real property; taking, detaining or injuring goods or chattels, or for specific recovery 
of personal property; or for relief on the ground of fraud or mistake. 

Within two) ears: Against a sheriff, coroner or constable upon liability incurred by do- 
ing an act in his official capacity, or by the omission of an official duty. Upon a statute or un- 
dertaking in a criminal action, for a forfeiture cr penalty to a County or the Territory. Upon 
a statute for penalty or forfeiture where the action is given to an individual. For damage, 
for death of one caused by the wrongful acts of another. For libels, slander, assault, battery, 
false imprisonment or seduction; and against a sheriff for the escape of a prisoner held on 
civil process. 

Within one year: Against an officer to recover property seized by him as lax collector, 
or to recover the price or value of property so seized, or damages for its detention; or for 
money paid to any such officer under protest, or when seized, and it is claimed that it ought 
to be refunded. 

Within six months: Claims against a County after first rejection by the board of com- 
missioners. 



ROBERT LOUT HAN. 



C. P. BILDERBACH. 



R. LOUTHAN & CO., 



-DEALERS IN- 



Dry Goods and General Merchandise, 

CROCKERY AND GLASSWARE, 

BOISE CITY, I__»___TO. 



Daily and Weekly. Published in Ogden City, Utah. 

A live and newsy advocate of American ideas and Western enterprise, devoted to 
rene'ral intelligence of the day, mining and other industrial notes. Has a large circula- 
ion throughout Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Montana. 

Daily, $8.00 per annum; Weekly, $2.50 per annum. 

E. A. LITTLEFIELD, Publisher, Ogden, Utah. 



H. M. BOND & CO., 



WHOLESALE 



Jiwies, Produce ai Ms, 

FOURTH STREET, 

DGDEN, - - UTAH. 

Prices on application. Correspondence solicited. 



J. W. McNUTT & CO., 



AND DEALERS IN 



FINE LIQUORS AND CIGARS, 

fourth Street, OG-DEN, UTAH. 



FRED. BRUNZELL, 

Silver City, Idaho, 



-COMMISSION DEALER 1N- 



Jloiir, Grrain, JProclnce 

AND GENERAL MERCHANDISE. 

i Associated with G. W. Baker & Co. in YVinnemucca 
Silver City Freight Line. Consign goods care of 
G. W. BAKER & CO. 

* . 

All Trains stop in Ogden, Utah, at 
SEARDSLEY'S HOTEL 

One Hour for Meals. 

^Patrons of Hotel, by giving checks and orders in the 
pice, can have their baggage handled and transferred 
REE OF CHARGE. 

Parties going to Salt Lake and other points can 
ave surplus baggage. 

,i M. H. BEARDSLEY. 



Enterprise Hotel 

AND RESTAURANT, 

JR. C. WEST, - Proprietor. 

KETCHUM, IDAHO. 

The Pioneer Restaurant of Wood River. 

Tables supplied with the best the market affords. 



M. OBERDORFER, 

SILVER CITY, IDAHO, 



DEALER IN- 



§enemi Jjfletchandite^ 

GROCERIES, WINES AND LIQUORS, 

Produce, Hardware and Crockery, 

Dry Goods, Clothing, Boots & Shoes, 

HATS AND CAPS, 

California Blankets, Carpets, 

French, German and Fine English CUTLERY. 

All kinds of Produce bought and sold, and orders 
promptly attended to. 



MONTANA 



See Robt. E. Stiahom's 
latest book. "Montana 
and Yellowstone 
Park." The only com- 
plete showing of the resources of Montana and attrac- 
tions of Yelowstone Park yet made. All about Mon- 
tana's Mineral Districts, Stock Ranges, Farming Lands, 
Towns, Scenery and Climate. Openings for Capital 
and Labor, wages, living expenses, cost of getting 
homes, and all similar subjects fully treated. Book, 
bound in cloth, beautifully illustrated by MORAN" and 
other eminent artists, 200 puges, sent postpaid for 
,1.00 by RoiiT. E. Stahorn, Denver, Colorado. 



TO- 



Idaho, Montana, 

Oregon, "Washington 

AND ALL SECTIONS OF 

THE NEW NORTHWEST. 



GILMER, SALISBURY & CO.'S 

SPLENDIDLY EQUIPPED 

Daily Lines of Concorfl Coacta. 

flrm-HApf Qt "Rlanlrffint Utah & Northern Branch, U. P. Ry., for 
VUllllUUL ab UlCiUi\lUUl/ f Salmon River, Wood River, Sawtooth 

and Yankee Fork Mining Regions and all points in Western Idaho. 

Connect at Camas, L\£^^£L*•• for Salmon City ancl 



C*f\YI TiAnf o 4" TT^l 4"/vn Central Pacific Ry., for Boise City and all points 
VtOIlIluC t at J\.6l tOIl 9 i n Western and Northern Idaho and in Ore- 
gon and Washington Territory. 

Connect at TJ. & N. Ry. Points SC^ii"!!'^ 

Lodge and all points in Montana Territory. 

CARRYING 

U.S.iMAlLS AND EXPRESS I 

And affording the only me ins of access to the rich 

Mining, Farming and Grazing Districts 

IN THE ABOVE REGIONS. 



For Rates and other information call upon or address, 

O. J. SALISBURY, Superintendent, 

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 



"THE GREAT ROCK ISLAND ROUTE" 

Invites Attention to a few POSITIVE FACTS worm Knowing : 

FIRST — The geographical position of this line of railway is central, as it connects 
CHICAGO and PEORIA with the princioal cities on the Missouri River, namely: 
KANSAS CITY, COUNCIL BLUFFS, LEAVENWORTH and ATCHISON. 




MAGNIF'^ENT PASSENGER STATION OF THE GREAT ROCK ISLAND ROUTE." AT CHICAGO. 

pECOND— It controls the "FAMOUS ALBERT LEA ROUTE » to MINNEAPOLIS 
and ST. PAUL, affording passengers a view of the most delightful and picturesque 
g portions of ILLINOIS, IOWA and MINNESOTA. 

fHIRD — All through passengers are carried on Fast Express Trains, having the range 
of Magnificent Day Cars, our Famous Dining Cars, our unexcelled Reclining Chair 
Cars and Pullman's most noted Palace Sleeping Cars. 
FOURTH — Immunity from danger, because of smooth track laid with steel rail, 

1 ballasted road-bed and steel and iron bridges. 
IFTH — Sure connections and no expense at transfer points, as all trains run into 
Union Depots, avoiding delays. 
IXTH — Courteous treatment from all employees; low rates of fare and generous 
treatment as to baggage. 

The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway 

Is the great connecting line between the EAST and the WEST, and offers to travelers 
poice of routes between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean. 

Because of its reliability, the United States Government awards it the transportation 
>f the GREAT OVERLAND MAILS; and tourists making a journey around the World 
r to Japan, China or Australia, give it preference. 

Tickets for sale at all coupon ticket offices in the UNITED STATES and CANADA. 

R. R. CABLE, E. ST. JOHN, 

Vice Pres. and Gen'1 Manager Gen. Ticket and Pass'r Agent. 

CHICAGO. 



H. B. EASTMAN. B- M. EASTMAN. 

EASTMAN BRO'S, Prop's. 

CORNER MAIN AND 8TH STREETS, - - BOISE CITY, IDAHO- 

THE Overland is the Largest and Best Appointed Hotel in the Territory, and is conducted on first-class 
principles It is centrally located in the business portion of the city. The oflices of the Utah, Idaho, 
and Oregon Stage Company, and Wells, Far^o & Co., and the Postoffice, are located in the building. The 
Kelton, Umatilla, Idaho City, Silver City, Rocky Bar, and Eastern Oregon Stages daily arrive at and depart 
from this House . There is in the office of the Hotels 

A SUPERB CABINET OF MINERALS, 

In which valuable additions are made from time to time. This Cabinet also contains many rare curiosities. 
In a word, the Overland presents all the modem conveniences of a first-class hotel combined with the ele- 
gance and comforts of the most refined home. 

THE BAR in connection with the Hotel is stocked with wines, liquors and cigars of the purest and 
most celebrated brands. 



BOISE BREWERY SALOON, 

MAIN STREET, BOISE CITY, IDAHO. 

JOHN LEMP, PROPRIETOR 

Keeps constantly on hand the finest and best brewed 

LAGER BEER MES, LIQUORS, ail CMS 

Sole Agency for Southern Idaho of 

CYRUS NOBLE WHISKIES, 



-ALSO FOR- 



THISTLE DEW WHISKEY 

which has been the exceptional favorite brand East and South, and has always 

retained its purity, and is therefore recommended for medicinal use by 

our best physicians as the only safe stimulant, as can be 

verified by authentic analyses. Orders can be 

executed direct from the Distillery. 

The Largest and Most Elegant Billiard Parlor in the Territory. 

JOHN LEMP. 



JAS. A. PINNEY & CO., 



-DEALERS IN- 



Books, Stationery 

CHEAP PUBLICATIONS, 

Toys, Yankee Notions, &c, and General News Agents, 



tOISE OITT, - 

ORDERS SOlilUlT *6L> 



William H. Nye, 



D ruggist and P harmacist, 

DELAYER 1ST 

PURE DRUGS AND MEDICINES, 






ALSO 



PAINTS, OILS AND WINDOW CLASS. 



Particular Attention Given Physicians' Prescriptions. 

Competent Pharmacists Emploved to Attend 
to Orders Dav or Night. 

orner Main and Eighth Streets, - - - BOISE CITY , IDAHO. 






CONTINENTAL HOTEL, 

(Formerly Townsend House.) 

SALT IjAKE CITY, UTA.H. 

7 

THIS House is fitted up Avith all the Modern Improvements, and is one of the Best Family Hotels in the 
West. It is located near the principal centers of business. Shade trees extend along the entire front, 
and a beautiful park in the rear. 



WALKER HOUSE, 

IVIfvixx Street, ----- Salt Ijali.e City. 

The Principal Hotel of the City. 

HAS all the conveniences of any first-class Eastern House, and is located in the business center of the city. 
It is especially convenient for tourists and business men. Special attention given to guests in every 
particular. 

G. S. EltB, Prop'r Continental Hotel and Walker House. 







w 

OGDEN, TT1L4LH, 

CARRY A FULL LLNE OF 

GENERAL MERCHANDISE 

I And are prepared to fill orders as low as any Eastern Jobbers, freight added. 

MAIL ORDERS A SPECIALTY. 

S. W. SEARS, Manager. 



^1881* 



METCALF, PAUL & CO 




MANUFACTURERS OF 



Special Railroad Track Tools, 



THE CELEBRATED 



PATENT VERONA NUT LOCK, 



-AND- 



Standard Solid Steel Picks 

12 4 91 

FOR RAILROADS AND MINERS. 



PITTSBURG, PENN'A. 



THE RESOURCES 
AND ATTRACTIONS 

of Idaho Territory 



Robert E. Strahorn 
Introduction by Judith Austin 



Originally subtitled "Facts Regarding Soil, Minerals, Agricultural 
and Grazing Lands, Forests, Scenery, Game and Fish, and Reliable 
Information on Other Topics Applicable to the Wants of the Home- 
seeker, Capitalist, and Tourist," Strahorn's introduction to Idaho is a 
delightful adventure in western publicity and promotional literature. 
Written by one of the period's most accomplished western guidebook 
authors, Resources and Attractions was intended for would-be settlers 
and travellers of all types, but particularly for those seeking a better and 
more independent life than that then commonly available in the indus- 
trial east and the increasingly populous midwest. 

Set against a backdrop of natural wonders and territorial politics alike, 
Strahorn's Idaho is a mineralogical and agricultural Shangri-la, a poten- 
tially self-sustaining economy based on the interrelation of its occupa- 
tional populations. Following the tradition of guidebooks written earlier 
in the century, it supplies generous detail on the availability of the neces- 
sities of daily life, tempered, however, by the newer, underlying mes- 
sage that Idaho is a land to love and settle, a haven for those seeking 
both prosperity and stability. 

Although the Frontier was not to be considered closed for over an- 
other decade, Strahorn's descriptions of life in Idaho Territory betray a 
growing awareness of a settled regional identity and a desire for the 
establishment of a lasting social order distinctive of the territory and its 
people. 

Robert E. Strahorn was head of the Literary Bureau of the Union Pacific Rail- 
road. Judith Austin is publications director of the Idaho State Historical Society. 

University of Idaho Press 
Moscow, Idaho 83843 

Cover: 13th St. N.W. by Michael Miller, watercolor, 30" x 40", 1984. 

ISBN 0-89301-138-X 



VV 






\^ 











k *> +? 







A 



a* 






S 7 f 







v ' < v 










l/\ .... 











1** .<^> **_ rf>* ..L^% % -A* .• ' - • 




*$*" **&- 



^ . 



CKMAN 
I BINDERY INC. 



e* MAR 91 



I W=W N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 







.<. 






*. • 







•• .^^ 



^ .<C V 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




017 060 891 4 



mar 



r'f. iil,;>Mji« MB iuJMi 
MOT 

•vlSl;^' '■'■■■ 

MNfflmtih' ■'■■'■ "■<: 

iiiii 

HP 



8»sb 



(HmBI 



iiSl I ' 
lilll 

■ ■ '.iiii 



m 



m 

— I Mr 

:: : ■ ;. 

m™mumoH 



.'.■.,••''.... 



